Time to Celebrate
Get outdoors and revel in these annual events
APRIL 22
Earth Day
Earth Day has grown into an event that is celebrated in 192 countries.
This translates into at least a billion people each year directly engaging in
learning how to better take care of the only home we have by picking up
trash, planting trees and taking concrete steps to reduce their environmental footprints. It also means pressing governments and other institutions to enact large-scale measures to protect and preserve the planet.
You can find Earth Day events just about everywhere you look along
the Northeast Corridor, from the annual April 22 festivities in New
York’s Central Park (where more than a million people gathered on
the first Earth Day in 1970) and the New York Botanical Garden, which
will conduct a tour of its 50-acre native forest; to special educational
programs at the Boston Children’s Museum and Providence’s Roger
Williams Park Zoo; to activities that delve into environmental science
at Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences, along with events connected to the Philadelphia Science Festival. The Earth Day Network
sponsors events in Washington, D. C. A list of these can be found on
the network’s website,
earthday.org. And if you want to create your
own Earth Day activities, the website’s Earth Day in a Box will
give you everything you need to get started. —Eric Wybenga
Run of the Charles
APRIL 30
Start training
now, because
April 30
marks the
Charles River
Watershed
Association’s
29th annual
Run of the
Charles Canoe and Kayak Race, featuring 6, 9
and 19-mile races, as well as a 24-mile, five-leg
canoe relay—plus a marathon. New England’s
largest event of its kind attracts some 1,500
paddlers and hundreds of spectators who come
out to cheer them on.
crwa.org
National Train Day
Save the date! On May 7, delight in
the kid in you and celebrate your
love of trains at the fourth annual
National Train Day. This celebra-
tion includes simultaneous events
from coast-to-coast, including the
major markets of Washington, D.C.,
Philadelphia, Chicago and Los
Angeles, where visitors will enjoy
live entertainment, interactive and
educational exhibits, model train
displays, and tours of notable pri-
vate railroad cars, Amtrak equip-
ment, freight and commuter
trains. You can participate in many
ways, whether you attend a free,
fun event at a station near you,
host your own event, or engage
online via Facebook, Twitter and/
or nationaltrainday.com.
You’ll agree that it is
not just an event, it’s
an experience. Visit
nationaltrainday.
com for more
information and
a list of events
near you.
MAY 7
