By Amy Roell, Director of Programming

Saturday, April 20 dawned a bit chilly, but bright and beautiful to celebrate Earth Day at Winton Woods. Protecting their wild spaces was on the minds of 149 volunteers who donned their exclusive ‘Protect Your Wild’ ball cap thank-you gifts, picked up gloves, trash, and recycle bags and spread throughout Winton Woods for Great Parks’ biggest service project of the year.

Moving along roadsides, over trails and around the lake, in just three hours the team collected 151 bags of trash and 22 bags of recyclables for proper disposal, contributing to the Great Parks goal of protecting the cherished natural asset of Winton Woods. The park looked so great! We thank all of the hard-working volunteers for donating your time to help protect our collective wild and clean up Winton Woods! You are amazing!

After the hard work, volunteers joined other park guests in the festivities at Winton Harbor to celebrate Earth Day at our second annual Protect Your Wild event. The harbor was bustling with activities—exhibitors sharing everything from today’s electric vehicles, to gems such as the Oxbow, Cincinnati Library and more.

Several vendors were on hand featuring various products for sale that were handmade in environmentally responsible ways. And of course, numerous educational stations and fun-in-park stations attracted visitors to learn and enjoy being more eco-friendly in their own corners of the world. Our food vendors and concession stand worked hard to keep up with all the orders to make sure everyone was well-fed and hydrated.

We are thrilled that so many spent their day with us, either through service in cleaning up the park or through the many other fun activities of the day. We hope Protect Your Wild inspires you to celebrate Earth Day every day and make the world a little bit better than yesterday.