April 13 – Noon to 4 p.m. Maxwell Hill Community Center, Beckley. Host – The Piney Creek Watershed Association hosts this free event, which will have kids’ activities and informational kiosks, plus food and beverages for sale from the Beckley Women’s Club. Contact: 304-228-1680 or pineycreekwatershedassociation@gmail.com.
April 13 at Appalachian South Folklife Center, Pipestem. Help clean up and rehab the grounds, plus have a picnic and spend time with friends on the beautiful mountaintop. Afterwards, there will be a bonfire and some fun times jamming around the fire circle. Show your love to the Earth and the Appalachian South Folklife Center. Contact: 304-466-0626 or appalachianfolklifecenter@gmail.com.
April 20 – 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Farmers Market Pavilion, 400 Spruce St., Morgantown. Enjoy exhibits, vendors, live music and free activities. Sponsored by Mon Group of the WV Sierra Club. Contact: johnbird@frontier.com.
April 20 – 11 a.m. at the Kanawha County Public Library, Charleston. For Earth Day, the Family STEM Program will focus on recycling by building tables and shelves for your favorite books from recycled newspapers. No hammer or saw required! Contact: 304-343-4646 or mary.cravens@kanawhalibrary.org.
April 22 – 8:30-10 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. at Oglebay Park, Wheeling. Hike the Schrader Environmental Center. Cost: $5. Call 304-242-6855 to register.
April 22 in the Concord University Student Center, Athens. The Bonner Scholars will host a table to plant seeds and take some flowers with you from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Then, Earth Day Movie Night runs 8-10 p.m.
April 23 – 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Clay Center, Charleston. The WV Department of Environmental Protection’s Earth Day Celebration includes approximately 20 educational displays and activities promoting Earth Day, environmental education, resource conservation and environmental stewardship. Contact: 304-926-0499 ext. 1117 or Travis.L.Cooper@wv.gov.
April 24 – 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Displays and activities in the Marshall University Student Center, Huntington.
April 27 – Earth Day Volunteer Day at Beech Fork State Park, Barboursville. Contact: www.bfspf.org.
April 28 – 2-5 p.m. at Bellepoint Park, Hinton. Music, displays and eco-friendly gifts. As a way to get involved, organizers are asking adults and children to put together a creative project (visual art or written work) based on the Woody Guthrie song “This Land is Our Land.” The kids’ prize for creativity is a subscription to National Geographic Kids magazine, and the adult prize is a backyard composter. Call Nancy at 304-860-9446.
Last year, the West Virginia Tourism Office also shared other options to celebrate Earth Day in West Virginia State Parks. They include learning about West Virginia wildlife at the West Virginia State Wildlife Center in French Creek or Chief Logan State Park’s wildlife exhibit; going for a bike ride on one of West Virginia’s 60 rail trails, including the North Bend Rail Trail that connects to North Bend State Park, the Greenbrier River Trail that runs along the river and passes through Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, the Deckers Creek Trail system in Morgantown, the Wheeling Heritage Rail-Trails or for advanced riders, Kanawha State Forest, Coopers Rock State Forest, the New River Gorge or Mountwood Park; taking a hike somewhere like the West Virginia Botanic Garden, Cranberry Glades Botanical Area or Monongahela National Forest, either solo or with naturalists who often lead guided tours and offer advice on where to find interesting flora and fauna; offering to help clear trails at the parks; or spending a day on the water with peak whitewater season at Cheat River Canyon and the New River, milder rapids in the Potomac and Shenandoah at Harpers Ferry or lazy floating on the Coal River Water Trail.