Bubbles fill the air during the 2019 Party for the Planet held at Surrey Civic Plaza. (submitted photo: City of Surrey)

A pair of anniversaries will be celebrated during Surrey’s Party for the Planet on Saturday, April 18.

Held for a 10th year in Surrey, the day-long event at Civic Plaza will also mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day a few days ahead of that occasion’s official April 22 designation.

Party attractions this year will include 1,000 free plants for attendees, a popular tree and plant sale, environmental workshops, live music, guest speakers, vendors, sports and interactive activities “for all ages to learn about environmental initiatives.”

Festival details were announced Wednesday (March 4) by event planners with the City of Surrey.

University Drive will be the place for the plant sale, workshops, exhibitors and several plant-based food trucks, including Chickpea, Rolling Cashew, Eat the Dishes and Gypsy Trunk, plus trucks serving Express, Rotato, Sajetarian, Tin Lizzy Donuts and Triple O’s.

• PHOTOS AND STORY from 2019: Rainy day for Surrey’s Party for the Planet.

On the TD Main Stage and elsewhere, performers will include Raincity Blue, Keliya, Jasper Sloan Yip, Glass Forest, Olin Brix, Surrey City Orchestra Quartet, Kuri, Just Cuz, Shayne Kocajda, Rockin’ Robin, Norma McKnight and others.

A speaker series at the Live Green World is where guests can learn about “strategies and daily practices to live sustainably, a Nature Walk on University Drive activated by Surrey Parks, and the Dogwood Dance Tent featuring giveaways and dance performances,” according to an event advisory.

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Interested in selling goods at BC's largest Earth Day celebration? We're looking for vendors passionate about sustainability to join us in our Live Green World marketplace. #P4TP — Surrey BC Events (@surreybcevents) January 23, 2020

Other activities include a rock-climbing wall, road hockey, and sports activations from Sport Surrey.

Speaker series topics will include “How to radically reduce the use of harmful chemicals in your home with Norwex,” “Healthy Trees” and “Yoga Meditation.”

Environmental workshops will cover topics such as “How to Make Vegan Sushi,” “Drum Making” and “Carved Paddle Painting.”

Party for the Planet will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 18, at 13450 104th Ave., Surrey.

Previous editions of the festival featured performances by some high-profile artists, including Sam Roberts, Dear Rouge, Spirit of the West, Shawn Hook, Lights and Down With Webster. In 2019, the event was made more “grassroots,” with less emphasis on big-stage entertainment and more on interactive workshops and attractions.

For the 2020 event, planners accept applications for sponsors, exhibitors and vendors. To be part of the Live Green World, contact Sheenam Kaler at skaler@surrey.ca or call 604-591-4203. Corporate sponsorship inquiries can be directed to Kelsey Macinnes (KMacInnes@surrey.ca, 604-598-5899). A sponsorship package can be downloaded from surrey.ca.

The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action. “The enormous challenge — but also the vast opportunities — of action on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary,” says a post at earthday.org. “Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.”

Earth Day was first held as “a unified response to an environment in crisis — oil spills, smog, rivers so polluted they literally caught fire,” the website notes. “On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10 per cent of the U.S. population at the time — took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet. The first Earth Day is credited with launching the modern environmental movement, and is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event.”



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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