Celebrating sustainability at Earth Day Festival in Goodells, highlight on Blue Water Area Transit

It’s the beginning of spring, and Earth Day is approaching.  

After first being held on April 23, 1970, the annual event continues to grow each year with coordinated events worldwide. Locally, the Earth Fair will be held at Goodells County Park on April 25-26. On Friday, festivities will occur from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Students explore an ant farm with magnifying glasses.
Visitors can expect exhibits, workshops, and demonstrations from groups such as Camp Cavell, Michigan Bluebird Society, and Blue Water Area Transit (BWAT). For BWAT, that will include Earth Day transit coloring books and ride information.

“Earth Day is an opportunity for us to get our message out,” says Blue Water Area Transit’s Community and Labor Relations Manager Lee Perry Belleau. “We will have a table and display with our maps. We always have something to give out like our transit coloring books and a bowl of candy for the kids.”

The first Earth Fair in St. Clair County was held in 2003. From only a few patrons to now thousands of visitors, the fair is quickly becoming one of the largest Earth Day celebrations across the state.

“I think it’s very important to be involved,” Belleau says. “We want a clean planet. We have used compressed natural gas in our buses for decades. It’s a really important aspect. It’s a clean alternative and our system is pretty robust for a community this small. It’s great that we can offer clean transportation.” 

Blue Water Area Transit was also previously honored at the event in 2018 for its impact on the community and was awarded the Green Guardian Award for using environmentally friendly substances.

The new Gillig bus at the Convention Center in Port Huron.

In addition to exhibits, there will be food vendors like Maria’s Tacos and The Property Farms and McCallum’s Orchard.

Sarah Davidson-Nelson, the Earth Fair Committee’s president, says having local support has allowed the event to grow and helped businesses and organizations gain momentum.

“Earth Fair is all about sustainability and stewardship,” Davidson-Nelson says. “The more people we can get involved, young or old, the more we can teach other people. You can start seeing some real change, as simple as knowing how to recycle or compost or reuse any type of products that you can. People take those ideas into homes and the community.”

The hope is that the event will inspire people throughout the Blue Water Area to find alternative energy sources, which makes Blue Water Area Transportation the perfect participant for the event.

“We really enjoy finding ways to improve our community,” Belleau says. “I started working here nine years ago, and once I started, I was amazed at how our busses were literally everywhere, in every neighborhood. We are going to continue thinking of solutions to be environmentally friendly while giving riders a positive experience.”