From Helping Mother Nature to the Beer Garden: Banning Celebrating Earth Day With Fun Event

The public is invited to come out to a special Earth Day celebration this weekend in Banning.

Though Earth Day isn't until Monday, the event will be held Saturday at the Gilman Historic Ranch and Wagon Museum, and will allow locals a chance to learn all about ways to be kind to Mother Nature in a fun setting.

Details as follows.

The following was submitted for publication by the Banning Centennial Committee:

An Earth Day event will be held on Saturday, April 13 from 9:00 a. m. until 5:00 p.m. at Gilman Historic Ranch and Wagon Museum, 1901 W. Wilson Street in Banning. The event is part of a year-long celebration of the city of Banning’s centennial. 

Tickets are $6.00 per car or $3.00 per adult, $2.00 per child and $1.00 per dog. There will be food and a beer garden.

The Earth Day event is presented by Southern California Edison and sponsored by the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency and The Gas Company.

Exhibits will feature information and interactive activities on sustainability, native plants, edible plants, water conservation, recycling and vermiculture. For children and youth, there will be a magic show featuring educational environmental messages. 

Wild California, a nursery offering a diverse palette of California native plants and seeds for public and residential landscaping, the nursery trade, habitat restoration and ecological rehabilitation projects, will participate as an exhibitor and have native plants and seeds for sale.

Students from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians will demonstrate the use of portable air quality monitoring field stations, provided by the Morongo Environmental Department. Earth Day and native plant projects by Morongo school students will be on display.

The Morongo Cultural Heritage Department will demonstrate how the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and other tribes in the area use historic native plants.

A speaker series, with on-the-hour presentations, will include:

• 9 a.m. “Edible Landscapes” (organic fruit and vegetables, herbs) by Christine Lampe, master gardener
• 10 a.m. “Make Your Garden Water-Wise” by Jackie Lasater and Ben White, co-directors of Wild California Native Plants + Seed Nursery
• 11 a.m. “Ethnobotany” by Kevin Siva, Morongo Band of Cahuilla Indians
• 12 noon “Top 5 Reasons Why You’ll Want to Grow Your Own Food” by Abraham Zamora, Square Foot Gardening Instructor
• 1 p.m. “Backyard Composting & Vermicomposting” by Janet Moreland, Recycling Expert, Riverside County Waste Management Department
• 2 p.m. “Let’s Lead the World in Being the Future We Need To Be Now” (climate change) by Barbara Hanna, former city of Banning mayor and trained leader for Climate Reality Project
• 3 p.m. “The Organic Lifestyle and Your Health” Jan Kielmann, coordinator of Highland Springs Resort’s 123 Farm
• 4 p.m. “Benefits of Bees” by Brian Romberg