PITTSBURGH PARKS CONSERVANCY ANNOUNCES EARTH DAY PROGRAMMING
PITTSBURGH – MARCH 30, 2021 – The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy has announced a full schedule of safe in-person and virtual Earth Day events throughout April. The free programming will encourage Pittsburghers to get outdoors and do their part to leave the environment better than they found it.
This year’s festivities will offer all Pittsburghers an opportunity to safely celebrate and honor local nature. In-person environmental stewardship events will be held throughout the City, including tree plantings, group cleanups, and ‘pick-your-park’ solo cleanups through the non-profit’s Parks Champions volunteer program. Guided hikes and other activities will be offered all month long.
Earth Day events on April 22 will include free yoga in Schenley Plaza, free PNC Carousel rides from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., a self-guided storybook experience to the story Daniel Finds a Poem, children's activities such as kite making, and a bird scavenger hunt.
In-person and digital events continue to be added throughout the month. Virtual programming that is already planned for the month will include an April 22 Instagram Live virtual hike with a Parks Conservancy naturalist educator, as well as a Zoom webinar towards the end of the month on the region’s lesser-known spring mushrooms.
According to Caitlin Steve, Naturalist Educator, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, and member of Public Ally AmeriCorps, Earth Day 2021 presented a unique opportunity to produce diverse programming throughout the City’s many parks and online.
“Just like all Pittsburghers deserve great parks, we all deserve the opportunity to learn about our local nature and celebrate it,” said Steve. “This year, every day can be Earth Day for every Pittsburgher. That means providing even more ways to help clean up our local parks and engaging people virtually.”
In years past, the Parks Conservancy’s Earth Day programming culminated in a large festival in Frick Park. The popular festival will not be held this year due to safety considerations.
Over the past year, Pittsburghers have found comfort in their parks as open, accessible, and safe places for outdoor enjoyment while physical distancing. In that time, Google Community Mobility Reports consistently showed large increases in parks usage in Allegheny County compared to baseline data, with many weeks showing 100% increases and higher over baseline usage.
“As we head into the warmer months, we have an opportunity to celebrate Earth and give back to the parks that have given us so much over the past year,” added Steve, who led the coordination of the events.
To learn more about the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy’s Earth Day programming throughout April, visit pittsburghparks.org/earth-day. Follow @pittsburghparks on Facebook and Instagram for live streaming notifications.
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Alana Wenk
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
412.527.0020
awenk@pittsburghparks.org
About Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy:
Now celebrating its 25th year, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy was founded in December 1996 by a group of citizens concerned with the deteriorating conditions of Pittsburgh’s historic city parks. A non-profit organization, the Parks Conservancy works closely with the City of Pittsburgh under an official public-private partnership agreement to restore and improve the city’s park system to its full potential. To date, the Parks Conservancy has raised more than $130 million and completed 22 major park improvement projects. The Parks Conservancy works with thousands of volunteers, hosts hundreds of events, and provides programming for more than 7,500 children annually.