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Fairfax County’s Earth Day celebration is moving to Lake Fairfax Park in Reston, bringing animals, live music, food trucks and family activities to the park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The free Earth Day Fairfax festival, previously held at the Sully Historic Site in Chantilly, will take place at 1400 Lake Fairfax Drive. Parking will cost $10 per vehicle.
Visitors can meet wild and farm animals from Frying Pan Farm Park and Hidden Pond Nature Center, try a rock-climbing wall and golf putting game, and make crafts ranging from paper quilling to sustainable play dough using grain processed at Colvin Run Mill.
The Fairfax County Park Authority’s Wonder Wagon mobile nature center will also attend. Festivalgoers who collect stamps from booths and activities in an Earth Day Passport can receive a custom event T-shirt.
School of Rock, Recycling Pirates, Proverbs Reggae Band and Wildflower Revival Band are scheduled to perform. Karate and taekwondo demonstrations are also planned, along with food trucks, a craft beer garden, large vehicle displays and environmentally focused vendors.
Vienna plants trees after controversial W&OD clearing
The Town of Vienna is marking Arbor Day with two planting events.
Town parks and recreation employees, local officials and scouts will plant multiple trees during a 5 p.m. Friday ceremony at the Waters Field batting cage, 300 Center Street South.
Members of the public can volunteer at 9 a.m. Saturday to plant trees along the Washington & Old Dominion Trail near the Vienna Community Center. Volunteers can register online or contact Jeremy Edwards, Vienna’s superintendent of parks maintenance, horticulture and urban forestry.
The location carries added significance after Dominion Energy removed dozens of trees along sections of the trail in Vienna and Dunn Loring to protect power lines. The utility later reached an agreement with trail owner NOVA Parks requiring more selective vegetation management and replanting where trees are removed.
More weekend events across Fairfax County
Herndon’s Parks and Stream Cleanup will run from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. Volunteers will gather at Runnymeade Park, 195 Herndon Parkway, before helping collect litter, remove invasive plants and perform maintenance across the town’s 11 parks and three trails.
Fairfax City will hold its 40th Arbor Day Celebration from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Pat Rodio Park, 3800 Keith Avenue. Activities include community tree planting, tree pickups and poetry readings.
Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman, his staff and the McLean Trees Foundation will host Dranesville Celebrates Trees from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Lewinsville Park, 1659 Chain Bridge Road in McLean. Registered volunteers will weed, mulch and plant native tree saplings.
Reston Town Center’s eARTh Day celebration will combine art and environmental activities from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The schedule includes face painting, plant potting, a concert, a movie screening and Public Art Reston’s ChalkFest.
At Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Fairfax Invasive Removal Alliance members Wendy Cohen and Rekha Dolas will discuss invasive plants and native restoration from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by a walk through the neighboring park.
The Great Falls Optimist Club’s 28th annual Spring Children’s Festival will close out the weekend from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 26. Although not formally connected to Earth Day or Arbor Day, the outdoor event will feature rides, food, vendors, games and obstacle courses.