The connections between the health of the planet and that of its citizens provide the growing medium for the 12th annual Green Earth Fair. Held on the first Sunday in May, the event is hosted by the Green Earth Institute, which makes its home at the McDonald Farm on Knoch Knolls Road in southeast Naperville.
The yearly festival, set for 12:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday, celebrates the start of the growing season with demonstrations, tours, exhibits, refreshments, musical performances and activities for kids.
“The weather is looking good for this weekend,” said Steve Tiwald, the nonprofit institute’s executive director, who has spearheaded the springtime commemoration since its start in 2004.
Included in the day’s plans are six speakers who will address a variety of subjects. One will offer a culinary demonstration spotlighting ways to prepare vegetables grown on the organic farm where the institute makes its home, and a second food-focused presenter will show new techniques for making dishes from raw produce.
“A number of people have expressed in raw foods, and we have a good speaker on that,” Tiwald said.
One speaker will address backyard water issues, and organic gardening and landscaping will be the focus of another. Additional speaking topics will include permaculture, presented by representatives of the Resiliency Institute, which also is based at McDonald Farm; and beekeeping, a subject spotlighted at the fair every year. Presented by a volunteer who looks after the bees at the farm, the talk shares tips for beekeepers and provides information about bee characteristics, Tiwald said, and touches on colony collapse disorder and problems nationwide with honeybees that have been traced to pesticides.
Some 30 exhibitors are slated to be on hand, from an old-time blacksmith to a vendor of solar panels. Displays with an energy-conservation theme, and the sale of rain barrels, are in the plans as well.
More Top Picks Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7 1 Channel
Also planned is a sale that will offer more types of plants than fair goers have found in the past, this time including native trees and shrubs, along with grasses and wildflowers.
“And of course, people always love the organic vegetable seedlings,” Tiwald said.
The musical lineup includes nine performances, by both ensembles and soloists, throughout the afternoon. Many visitors are particularly fond of the mid-afternoon children’s parade, with those in the procession playing instruments they have just made from recycled materials. Leading the lineup will be “Mona the Monarch” – on other days known as lifelong Naperville resident Carolyn Finzer – who appears at the Green Earth Fair in a different incarnation each year. In 2010, Finzer materialized as “Miss Violet,” telling the children about the importance of native plants in the ecosystem. Last year her animate persona was “Ruby the Redbird.”
Finzer said this year’s alter ego is related to her current role as spokeswoman for the Save Our Monarchs Foundation, based in Minneapolis, and its efforts to promote the humble milkweed as a beneficial native plant.
“We are trying so hard to inform the public that the common milkweed is the host plant for the monarch,” she said. “Without that plant it cannot lay its eggs, the larvae have nothing to feed on, and the butterfly simply cannot complete its life cycle.”
Near the front in the popular parade’s lineup will be members of the drum line at Madison Junior High School, stepping off at 3 p.m.
“They will be playing their drums and leading the parade, which will bring a smile to people’s faces,” Tiwald said.
Admission to the fair is free, but a $5 optional donation for parking will be gratefully accepted. The farm is located at 10S404 Knoch Knolls Road. For more information, visit http://www.greenearthinstitute.org.
Twitter @scarlman