Arts & Entertainment

Earth Fair Comes Saturday

Special events, music, animals and so much more will be featured at the Smithville Mansion.

The Burlington County Earth Fair, an all-day event featuring more than 100 eco-friendly vendors and exhibitors, live entertainment, kids’ activities and more is scheduled for Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m., rain or shine, at Historic Smithville Park in Eastampton.

Sponsored by county freeholders, the fair focuses on ways to protect and enjoy the environment. It is expected to draw a crowd of thousands. Parking and admission are free.

Participants can also utilize the annual Recycling Stop and Drop, open at Smith’s Woods in Eastampton. Confidential documents can be shredded and computers and televisions can be turned in from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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This year’s theme is “Back to Our Roots.” One of the main attractions will be “The Sustainable Living Tent,” showcasing a wide assortment of earth-friendly solutions for the home, including solar panels, green driveways, and energy-saving light bulbs.

Visitors will also be able to check out the hybrid cars on display, learn the “dos and don’ts” of recycling, and stroll through the fair’s “R U GRN” and “EZ 2 B GRN” areas to get tips on backyard composting, water conservation and more. Other “Back to Our Roots” attractions will focus on bee keeping, native plants, urban chickens, beneficial bugs, rain barrels and rain gardens.

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Children’s activities will include “trash” sculpting, papermaking, environmental-themed puppet shows, storytelling, face painting, a 4-H petting zoo, and a Musical “Made from Trash” Playground that will enable kids to have fun with “instruments” made from recycled materials.

Special “Back to Your Musical Roots” entertainment, including gospel, New Orleans/Cajun, bluegrass, country blues, folk and jazz will be presented on two stages in the park. And, the “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music,” a Smithsonian traveling exhibit sponsored by the New Jersey Council on the Humanities will be on display in the Smithville Mansion Annex Art Gallery.

Throughout the day, visitors will be able to canoe the Rancocas Creek for $15 a canoe, explore the park’s nature trails, and the Historic Smithville Mansion for $3, and tour the Smithville Industrial Village.

A variety of food will be for sale and two environmentally friendly, battery-operated Neuton lawn mowers and a chicken coop will be raffled off. Tickets will cost $1 each and all proceeds will benefit the non-profit Smithville Conservancy.

For more information, call 609-265-5858, or go to co.burlington.nj.us

EARTH FAIR SCHEDULE

(Subject to change)

 Back to Our Roots Performers Stage One

  • 11 a.m.: Capitol City Gospel Singers, a multi-denominational gospel group from Trenton performs sacred songs and spirituals;
  • Noon: Zydeco-a-Go-Go, a five-piece group specializing in Zydeco, Cajun, and New Orleans rhythm and blues takes the stage;
  • 1:30 p.m.: Bad Dogz, a popular Pinelands bluegrass band performs a unique blend of bluegrass and country music;
  • 3 p.m.: Piney Hollow Drifters, an “old timey” band plays music in the old time tradition with old time instruments.

Back to Our Roots Performers Stage Two

  • 11:30 a.m.: John Colgan-Davis, leader of Philadelphia’s legendary Dukes of Destiny plays harmonica and sings the blues with accompaniment by guitarist Richard Ray Adler;
  • 12:30 p.m.: Spook Handy tells America’s story through his own folk songs and songs by artists such as Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul and Mary;
  • 1:30 p.m.: Queen Nur, a nationally known storyteller along with Dwight Jones and Sarai Abdul-Malik present “Holla’, Shout and Turnabout,” interactive stories with audience participation using washboards, spoons and one-string buckets;
  • 2:30 p.m.: Alvin Jacques Band performs New Orleans jazz

 Especially for Kids

  • All day: Musical Playground allows kids of all ages to play musical instruments built from recycled material;
  • 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. & 2:30 p.m.: Tunes for Spoons with Mark Rust invites visitors to make music with spoons.
  • 1 p.m. & 3 p.m.: Earth Capades Environmental Vaudeville group presents “Waste Reduction Production” with juggling, magic, comedy, storytelling and music.
  • 11:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.: The Magic of Recycling featuring Magician Bill Kerwood;
  • Noon & 2 p.m.: Grand Falloons Professor W’s Earth Science Circus takes you on a unique exploration of “our Earth;”
  • Noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m. & 3 p.m.: Back to Our Roots Storytelling at the Gazebo featuring Mary Olgesby;
  • 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. & 3:30 p.m.: Back to Our Ethnic Roots Storytelling at the Gazebo featuring Dorothy Stanatis

 Guided Tours

  • Noon to 4 p.m.: Tours of the Historic Smithville Mansion ($3/person)
  • 12:30 p.m. & 2:30 p.m.: Tours of the Smithville Industrial Village (Free)

All Day Live Animal Exhibits

  • Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge
  • Rancocas Nature Center
  • 12:30 p.m. & 2:30 p.m.: Rizzo’s Reptiles
  • Bug Lady
  • 4-H Petting Zoo
  • Alpacas

 

 

All Day Fun for Everyone in the Event Tent

  • R U GRN?  - Find out if you’re living a “green” life.
  • EZ 2 B GRN - Learn how easy it is “go green."


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