Envirohub Marlborough’s Earth Day celebration, Picnic in the Park returns to Blenheim!

The Earth Day event, hosted by Envirohub Marlborough, will make its return to Pollard Park on Sunday 21st April, 10:00am to 3:00pm. Building on the successful event last year, this family-friendly event will return bigger and better with live music and entertainment, an earth-friendly craft market, 100% zero waste food vendors, conservation displays and activities, a Conservation Kids NZ Kid’s Zone and more!

The aim of Earth Day: Picnic in the Park is to provide a free event while providing information for the community how each of us can tread a little lighter, as well as showcasing conservation in action throughout our region and how each of us can become more actively involved.

Each year, on April 22nd, more than a billion people celebrate International Earth Day to draw attention to the need to protect our planet from things like pollution, deforestation, climate change and the loss of our rich diversity of plants and animals. By taking part in activities like growing our own veggies, making compost, minimising our waste, protecting natural habitats and planting trees, we are making our world a happier and healthier place to live.

This year’s International Earth Day theme is “Planet vs Plastic”, which will be the central theme of the Earth Day: Picnic in the Park event.

Each year, Envirohub Marlborough has continued to build and grow the Earth Day event, keeping with a glamping-style picnic aesthetic. The chilled, relaxed atmosphere is enhanced with live music and entertainment, providing an inviting atmosphere to actively explore and take part in the event or simply sit back and enjoy. Visitors are encouraged to either bring their own picnics, or purchase food on-site to eat using either their own picnic sets or with the cutlery, crockery, cups and other reusables provided by the Envirohub Marlborough Zero Waste Dishwashing Trailer ensuring the event is 100% waste free.

Local musician Midge McCleary will entertain with an acoustic set of his engaging blend of blues funk folk jazz based on his percussive, finger-style guitar playing, as well as fulfilling the role of MC. This year, Envirohub Marlborough’s growing relationship with the Marlborough Multicultural Centre will also see MMC’s Cultural and Sports Event Manager, Marcelo Gonzalez, coordinating a series of acts including music and dancing entertainment from around the world. An event-wide open yoga session is also in the works!

A craft market featuring only earth-friendly goods will tempt a range of shoppers, while children will be kept entertained with a number of activities at the Conservation Kids NZ Kid’s Zone, providing a full children’s programme throughout the day, in addition to family-friendly interactive displays, games and activities by many of our local community and conservation groups within their displays.

Conservation and environmental groups hosting displays so far include Envirohub Marlborough, Conservation Kids NZ, Climate Karanga Marlborough, Tetra Punks and the Packaging Forum, Sustainable Coastlines, Forest & Bird (Marlborough), East Coast Protection Group, Te Whanau Hou - Grovetown Lagoon, Department of Conservation, The Green Party, Marlborough Multicultural Centre, Volunteer Marlborough, Marlborough Emergency Management, Top of the South Community Foundation, Climate Action Marlborough, Falcon Trust, Marlborough District Council Solid Waste team and more!

This year we will also actively be promoting methods of diverting items from landfill, with a Liquid Paper Board (LPB) and tetra pak collection point (thanks to the Tetra Punks team!) and soft plastics collection point (thank you Future Post!) available to visitors.

Visitors will be encouraged to bring their clean tetrapaks, soft plastics, as well as old cell phones, wine bottle tops, coffee pods and more to be recycled - drop them off and stay to enjoy the day! A Marlborough District Council display educating on the new wheelie bin system coming in will also be a part of the day.

Picnic in the Park is a 100% Zero-Waste event. As such all vendors will comply with the “pack it in, pack it out” philosophy. Everyone attending will be asked to BYO picnic set for their food and drinks or are welcome to use utensils, plates, cups and crockery supplied by the Zero Waste Dishwashing Trailer - see it and the team in action on the day!

Earth Day: Picnic in the Park is made possible by Envirohub Marlborough (thanks hugely in part to support from Envirohubs of Aotearoa and Ministry for Environment), Conservation Kids NZ and the Marlborough District Council. A huge shout out to the Cancer Society, the Marlborough Multicultural Centre for their contribution this year, and the large number of conservation non-profits that do so much essential work in our community, whether they are a part of the day or not. A final thanks to the large number of volunteers that also make this day a reality!

EARTHDAY.ORG 2024 MISSION: For Earth Day 2024 on April 22nd, EARTHDAY.ORG is unwavering in our commitment to end plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, demanding a 60% reduction in the production of ALL plastics by 2040.

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