BRUNSWICK — Several hundred people from fifteen midcoast Maine communities and beyond turned out Saturday, April 25, for the first Earth Day Festival in Brunswick, a free, family-friendly event held at Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School.
The Festival ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and featured more than 60 exhibitors, an All Species Parade, wheelbarrow races, a bike tent, food trucks, live music, an electric vehicle show, a coastal cleanup, and talks on solar power and gardening.
The Festival was presented by Sustainable Practice, a Brunswick-based partnership between Fred Horch and Peggy Siegle that publishes resources for sustainable practitioners. Horch is the former proprietor of F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods & Supplies, a store that operated on Maine Street for many years.
“Our goals were to bring people together to have fun, make new friends, and take a step to protect our environment,” Horch said. “By every measure that matters to us, the day delivered. Neighbors met neighbors. Kids dressed as creatures we’ve never seen in Brunswick before. And a lot of mulch got spread.”
The All Species Parade, led by the Ideal Maine Social Aid and Sanctuary Band, marched down Page Street and around the school grounds with participants costumed as everything from green owls to beautiful butterflies to one curious kakapo. Costumed marchers who pre-registered received a $10 gift certificate to Wild Oats Bakery & Café, a Festival sponsor.
In Harriet’s Haven, the school garden, attendees helped spread mulch for the growing space near the greenhouse. Each load of mulch earned an entry into the day’s wheelbarrow race time trials, which culminated in a final relay race at 2:30 p.m. won by the team of Everett Horch and Mark Fochesato.
Outside, the Bicycle Coalition of Maine offered free safety checks and tune-ups, while electric vehicle owners answered questions from curious drivers about year-round battery operation in Maine. A guided fun bike ride left from the Festival at 1 p.m. The Festival also coincided with the fifth annual Brunswick Coastal Cleanup, organized by Mere Point Oyster Co.
Dave Taft of Harpswell, a Rotary Club volunteer, summed up the day in a note to organizers afterward: “On a scale of 1 to 10, this event was a 15!!!!”
Admission was free thanks to sponsors including Androscoggin Bank, Wild Oats Bakery & Café, Lee Auto Malls, Mere Point Oyster Co, The Cryer, First Light Energy, Maine Solar Solutions, and more than 20 other local businesses. More than 40 nonprofit and government organizations from across the 15 communities served by the Festival staffed exhibits and led activities.
Festival Coordinator Kasey Lingley managed day-of operations alongside roughly two dozen volunteers. Siegle, who selected Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary as the venue as she and Horch were first planning the Festival, said the school’s mix of indoor and outdoor space and its central neighborhood location made it the perfect fit for this community-building event.
Sustainable Practice has committed to producing the Festival for at least three years. The 2027 edition is scheduled for Saturday, April 24.
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