Earth Day Celebrations at the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens

Celebrating Earth Day should be a fun family time and the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens in Grand Junction is hosting an all day family event that you don't want to miss. Earth Day comes but once a year and this year it will be on Saturday, April 23^rd. This year's theme at the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens is "Celebrate the Richness."

The Western Colorado Botanical Gardens will have special hours of operation on Earth Day so there'll be plenty of time for residents in the Montrose-Ouray-Telluride area to drive to Grand Junction and join in on the celebrations. Their doors will open at 8am and stay open until 11pm on Earth Day.

There will be live music beginning at 11 am and continuing all day and night. You'll be able to sit and listen to the music or you can dance if you want to. Four different bands will be playing music to help celebrate Earth Day and the One Tribe Fire Dancers will be performing their fabulous fire dances. A beer and wine garden will be available from Palisade Brewery as well as food and refreshments, live animals, local arts, guest speakers, face painting, Bump 'n Jump, games, and demonstrations.

Did I mention that you'll need to bring your camera?

Watson Island will begin the Earth Day celebrations by hosting a Tree Huggers contest and Mascot Obstacle Course Race at 8 am. All the animal exhibits will be on Watson Island where you can see camels, mustangs, falcons, and pot bellied pigs.

The Botanical Gardens are located on 15 acres of land and there are 13 outdoor gardens including a Children's Secret Garden. Because it's a secret, I can't tell you about the garden; you'll have to visit and see why it's a secret garden. There's also a Tropical Rainforest and Butterfly House that gives oogles of squeals and squeaks to the little ones.

There will be four speakers talking on subjects related to Earth Day and the key speaker is Cal Pearson from CSU who will be talking about bio-fuels.

The Earth Day celebrations begin at 8am until 11pm. The Western Colorado Botanical Gardens is located at South 7^th and Riverside Parkway. For Earth Day only, the Botanical Gardens will offer free admission for everyone. Donations will be accepted.
Sources: Western Colorado Botanical Gardens
Christine Dingman, Office Manager