Workshops prepare for Earth Day

By Carol South
Special to the Record-Eagle

March 26, 2008 04:00 am

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With spring's arrival, the annual season of Earth Day parade preparation has begun.

Kicking off the six-week period leading up to the April 26 parade, organizers threw a fashion show and fund-raising party on March 15 that drew 50 attendees to the artcenter Traverse City.

Music, puppets, snacks, far-out fashion and dancing were on tap as the gathering raised $300, which will defray half the expense of liability insurance for the upcoming parade.

Little Artshram's OUTLOUD! Girls Creative Group presented a puppet show on the food and microbial cycles, a skit and modeled various costumes that brought to life fruits and vegetables as well as a variety of creatures real and imagined.

"It was a whole lot of work for two months but they love it," said Penny Krebiehl, founder and director of Little Artshram. "I'm proud of the girls, they've contributed so much to this community event; we're teaching kids to love the earth."

This kick-off party heralded a weekend series of workshops at the Earth Day Community Art Studio, which began last weekend at the artcenter Traverse City. The workshops will be held up until the Earth Day parade on Saturday, April 26.

A brisk schedule of happenings each Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday afternoon allows participants to create their own creature for the parade, make a musical instrument out of recycled items and create or practice dances.

Casey Voss and friend Daniel Lan attended the workshop on Saturday afternoon. Each built a framework for a paper mache butterfly head that will be part of their costume in the Earth Day parade. Voss, a sixth grader at Glenn Loomis Elementary School, helped create the parade last year with his then class at the TCAPS Montessori program.

This year he returned on his own to help out, bringing along Lan, who is also a supporter of Earth Day and the environment.

"I feel like I'm changing the world one butterfly at a time," Voss said. "People still litter and mess up the world and we can bring our eco-footprint down."

Voss will be working on his costume over a number of weekends, joining a growing number of community members as April progresses. Krebiehl noted that participants typically take about three weeks to complete their creations, which range from realistic depictions of animals or nature to abstractions.

Krebiehl, Dede Alderman of Rhythmic Adventure and other volunteers will guide workshop attendees in the weeks leading up to the parade.

"We need help and we keep the process open: here's our framework and bring us your ideas," said Alderman, noting that planning began in earnest in early February. "We've pieced the storyboard together over the last few weeks, with adults but we've had kids involved, too."

This will be the 19th year that Traverse City has featured an Earth Day parade and this year's theme is Eco-Footprint. Three rules guide the community and family-friendly gathering: no motors, no words and no pets. The parade and all workshops leading up to it are all zero waste events -- leave nothing behind or in trash cans -- in keeping with this year's theme.

The storytelling parade revolves around five elements -- air, earth, fire, water and a center/spirit -- represented by marchers in each section. Parade participants weave themselves into one of the elements and help tell the story in five chapters as they march, making music, miming or portraying a species.

"This is meant to be something different than your regular protest, this is a celebration and a welcoming," said Krebiehl, noting that last year's parade drew 200 people. "It's meant to have a theme and a beginning a middle and an end."

The Earth Day parade in Traverse City will be held on Saturday, April 26, with line up beginning at noon in front of Central Grade School on Seventh Street. After the parade, a community picnic will be held at Hannah Park followed by a puppet show. New this year is a Green Fair held all day in the Grand Traverse Heritage Center. The event will conclude with a concert in the Heritage Center by Earthworks Musicians.

Volunteers, participants, sponsors, block hosts are still needed for the Earth Day Parade. For more information on the Earth Day parade or the Earth Day Community Art Studio schedule of events, see the Web site www.littleartshram.org.

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