EARTH WEEK IS COMING! WATER... A DROP IN THE BUCKET APRIL 16 TO 24, ~All events are FREE! Everyone is welcome!

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1 EARTH WEEK IS COMING! WATER... A DROP IN THE BUCKET APRIL 16 TO 24, 2016 This year s Summerland Earth Week theme addresses the importance of understanding, protecting and conserving our scarce freshwater resource. Take part in a wide variety of activities and events that are fun, educational, hands-on and thought-provoking. ~All events are FREE! Everyone is welcome!~ ONGOING EVENTS THE BEAUTY OF SPRING Enjoy the colourful locally crafted wheelbarrow displays in Downtown Summerland. Wheelbarrows bring to mind working with the soil, planting flowers and vegetables and enjoying the fruits of our labour. We have challenged some of our Downtown Businesses to pay homage to the wheelbarrow AND express their creativity by decorating a wheelbarrow in our Earth Week theme: Water... a Drop in the Bucket Sponsored by some of our Summerland Merchants and the Summerland Arts Council. ANNUAL SUMMERLAND FRESHETTE CONTEST GUESS WHEN THIRSK DAM STOPS SPILLING? Guess the right date and time (determined by the District of Summerland Manager of Utilities) and you win fresh fruit in season, honey, juice and other treats produced by your farming community! Summerland residents depend on snowpack and rainfall to fill our reservoirs every year, which is then managed by our Summerland Works and Utilities Department. Residents, businesses and irrigators rely on this water to get the community through the year until the next freshette season. Clean, adequate, gravity fed water to the town is a precious resource, beginning with spring freshette. The earlier Thirsk Dam stops spilling the excess water, the earlier we must start managing this limited water efficiently. Contest entry forms are available at all Earth Week events! For more information contact: Denise MacDonald: ELECTRONIC RECYCLING BINS OUTSIDE MUNICIPAL HALL April 18 22: Municipal Hall (13211 Henry Avenue) Drop off your old electronics in the bins located in the Municipal Parking lot for recycling. For more information contact the Works and Utilities Department: SUMMERLAND MUSEUM: WALK SOFTLY ON THE EARTH PHOTO CONTEST TOP PRIZE: WIN A DIGITAL CAMERA! Open to two age categories: 6-12 years and years.

2 Summerland youth are invited to submit their best environmental photo (any environment-related subject) in digital form. Awards will be presented on Saturday, April 23rd at 1:00 PM at the Summerland Museum and entries will be displayed in the tent on the Museum grounds. Online submission deadline is April 21, There is no entry fee. Visit their website at or call the Summerland for more details on how to participate. TRUE GRAIN BREAD EARTH-FRIENDLY FUN AT TRUE GRAIN Main Street: For Store Hours see: True Grain Bread will be celebrating Earth Week all week with educational and interactive fun! Learn about the importance of planet over plastic packaging and how eating locally grown food saves thousands of food miles. Take part in honouring the people who work so hard to grow our food with the Love Notes to Farmers board! Learn about the delicious organic grain grown right here in BC! Children will be invited to answer a question about something they ve learned about packaging, food miles, or BC grain, and they ll receive their own little bag of Red Fife Heritage Wheat seeds to grow in their gardens! For more information contact: Sophia: DAILY EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES Saturday, April 16 THE FIRST ANNUAL SUMMERLAND NEIGHBOURHOOD GARAGE SALE 9AM 2PM: Various Locations Garage Sales are one of the best ways to RECYLE! Take part in this Summerland Neighbourhood Garage Sale. So empty out your closets. Haul out your trinkets. Make some cash on what you don't use and do the Earth a big favour by recycling and reusing! Set up in your yard with your neighbours and share in the fun! Advertise your Garage Sale on our Earth Week Facebook Page: For more information contact Margaret Holler: Sunday, April 17 NEIGHBOURHOOD CLEAN-UP CHALLENGE 10:00am 12 NOON: Various Neighbourhoods Meet the Neighbourhood Clean-up Challenge! Get together with your neighbours and spend a couple of hours picking up the trash! The Peach Orchard Trash Pickers, the Lakeshore Litter Lifters, and the Switchback Scrap Scrapers challenge you to make YOUR neighbourhood garbage free! Register your Cleanup team on our Facebook Page:

3 For more information contact: Margaret Holler: WORKING TOWARDS HEALTHY SHORELINE HABITAT WATERFRONT TOUR 1:30PM 3PM: Four Summerland Waterfront Locations Join three South Okanagan experts and learn about protecting our shoreline habitat and our wetlands. Ecologist Don Gayton will talk about riparian function and healthy ecosystems. Alison Peatt will illuminate and engage us in the topic of riparian regulations and their importance and Eva Antonijevic will illustrate which hardy plants are suitable for our shoreline areas. For more information or to register contact: Eva: Tuesday, April 19 PUBLIC TOUR OF WATER TREATMENT PLANT 10:30AM: Prairie Valley Road This comprehensive tour of Summerland s level 4 Water Treatment Plant (WTP) and its treatment processes will allow you to see first-hand how water from the Trout Creek Watershed is received and treated in order to produce safe drinking water for the community. Registration Required maximum capacity of 15 people Parking at the WTP is limited so please carpool or cycle to this event if possible. For more information or to register contact: Works and Utilities: WETLAND DAYLIGHTING PROJECT FILM AND PRESENTATION 7PM: Old Public Library Building, Lower Level After a century or more of wetland destruction, communities across B.C. are joining the restoration movement. Ponds, marshes and stream banks are now being recreated and enhanced. Eco-artist Shimshon Obadia will present an outstanding example: the KLO Middle School Fascieux Creek Daylighting Project, recently completed in Kelowna. Following Shimshon's presentation, local ecologist Don Gayton will present a potential creek daylighting project for Summerland. For more information contact: Don Gayton: d.gayton@shaw.ca Wednesday, April 20 PHILOSOPHERS' CAFÉ: Syilx Water Perspectives: Valuing siwɬkʷ Knowledge in the Okanagan: Dr. Jeannette Armstrong & Dr. Marlowe Sam 7PM (Doors open 6:30PM): IOOF Hall, 9563 Main Street Syilx people have an understanding and protocol around water grounded in their local environment and culture, reflected in the word siwɬkw. Marlowe Sam and Jeannette Armstrong will discuss these understandings and protocols as well as offer solutions for a better, more resilient water future. For more information contact: Barbara Thorburn: bthorburn@gmail.com

4 Visit our Facebook page: Thursday, April 21, 10AM RAIN GARDEN TOUR 10AM 11AM: Superintendent s House Ornamental Gardens, 4200 Hwy 97S Rain gardens are a sustainable solution for storm water management, and many are being installed by municipalities and on private properties from coast to coast. Join Eva Antonijevic, Community Programs Director of the Friends of Summerland Gardens Society, on a Rain Garden tour and learn about how their rain garden was created to deal with storm water issues at the Gardens. For more information and to register: Contact Eva: evaantonijevic@gmail.com Friday, April 22nd EARTH DAY FRACTURED LAND An award-winning documentary about one man s struggle in defending his territory from Fracking operations 6:30PM: Summerland United Church, Henry Avenue The feature documentary film tells the coming-of-age story of young Indigenous lawyer Caleb Behn, from Treaty 8 Territory, and his struggle to reconcile the fractures within himself and the world around him. Caleb s father is a devout environmentalist and a residential school survivor. His mother is in a senior position in the oil and gas industry. His people, at the epicenter of some of the largest fracking operations on earth, are deeply divided. How does Caleb balance their need for jobs with his sacred duty to defend their territory? Sponsored by the Summerland Earth Week Committee and the Summerland United Church. For more information contact: Barbara Thorburn: bthorburn@gmail.com Saturday, April 23 EARTH DAY FUN AT THE LIBRARY! 10:30-11:30: Summerland Library "Water for Life" Activities, stories and lots of fun! Celebrate Earth Day by learning about the importance of water, reading stories and participating in awesome activities! For more information contact: Kayley Robb: summerland@orl.bc.ca IMAGINATION STATION 1 3PM: Summerland Arts Centre, Main Street Hands-on Recycled Art Activities Come in and make a family friendly craft to celebrate Earth Day

5 For more information contact the Art Centre: or admin@summerlandarts.ca WALK SOFTLY ON THE EARTH PHOTO CONTEST DISPLAY 1PM 4PM: Summerland Museum Grounds View the entries for the Museum s photography contest, which challenges our Summerland youth to take photos of environment-related subjects. Sunday, April 24 SUMMERLAND S 10TH ANNUAL EARTH DAY CELEBRATION 10AM 1PM Peach Orchard Park Boat Launch Residents of Summerland and the surrounding area are encouraged to take part in a local Earth Day Event to enhance the natural riparian habitat that borders Okanagan Lake at Peach Orchard Park. There will be planting of native trees and shrubs that would naturally be found in the area. There will be several booths with information on endangered species and habitats, invasive plants, landscaping with native plants and more. Children will be entertained with interactive activities. For further information Lisa ecomatters@shaw.ca. All events are FREE! Everyone is welcome!