Local Businesses, Community Celebrate Earth Day By Giving Back To Seacoast

For many, Earth Day is every day. But while Earth Day has long been recognized as a national holiday, the Seacoast Science Center is making sure that people remember why it is so important with a week-long celebration.

It all kicks off with a free Earth Day celebration on April 20, which is slated to include a 5K trail race, live music and recycled crafts.

But the main event might as well be the Earth Day beach clean-up. Spearheaded by businesses including Visions Kitchens and Design, Green Maids and the Bean Group's Hillary Gaynor, the clean-up offers Seacoast residents the perfect opportunity to show Mother Nature a little TLC.

“We're constantly doing beach clean-ups all year round,” said Nathan Johnson, Vice President and Senior Designer for Visions Kitchens and Design. “But when we found out that Seacoast Science Center was having an Earth Day Celebration, we wanted to start an Earth Day beach cleanup that was more noticeable and fun.”

Conceptually, the idea of a beach clean-up on Earth Day could not be more appropriate. No wonder, then, that a cleaning service, a kitchen design company and a Realtor – all of which tout their own brand of sustainable business practices – would seek to spearhead such an effort.

“Our beaches are so important to N.H. and the Seacoast community and it is important to take good care of them so that we can enjoy them recreationally,” Gaynor said. “And it's also important to support our beaches and clean them up because they are a big part of our local economy.”

After first gathering at the headquarters of the Green Alliance – a local green business union specializing in promoting local, environmentally-conscious companies – the three business partners were inspired to host a beach cleanup.

“We met Dave Anderson, who worked at the Green Alliance at the time, and found out that he was hosting and running them with Blue Ocean Society,” recalled John O’Brien, founder of the York Harbor-based Green Maids. “I thought it was a neat idea so I told Nathan, got him on board and contacted Hillary whom we felt would be interested in our own little group.”

“Last year, we had our first beach-clean up at Hampton Beach,” O’Brien continued. “There were about 4045 people who showed up. This year, I talked to Nathan and said that we should promote it earlier and make it into a full-day event.”

When it came time to start brainstorming event ideas and locations, the group turned to Blue Ocean Society, an environmental non-profit organization based in Portsmouth that protects and preserves marine mammals in the Gulf of Maine through education, research and conservation. It was then that BOS served as the missing link to connect these two events together.

“It was Blue Ocean Society who suggested that we do the beach cleanup at Seacoast Science Center,” O'Brien said. “That way we could integrate it with the annual 5K road race they have, which would really encourage people to come out and participate.”

The Seacoast Science Center has played an integral part for raising awareness about Earth Day for several years. One of the star features of their Earth Day celebration is the “Whale of a 5K Trail Race & Kid’s Fun Run” through Ordione Point State Park.

Far from being your run-of-the-mill, tedious jog along the pavement, the fun run is a scenic journey that takes you through shady forest and rocky shore, past historic military fortifications and over the newly-cleaned beach.

Once the race is over and the bodies have cooled down, the party will just be getting started as the Seacoast Science Center kicks off weeklong Earth Day Every Day celebration. Visions Kitchens, Green Maids and Hillary Gaynor with the Bean Group will all have their own booths, as will several other area businesses and organizations, including Blue Ocean Society, Kohl’s and the Green Alliance.

“We are all going to have booths so that people can learn about our companies and other educational things as well as have activities like face painting and recycled crafts,” said Johnson. “Throughout the whole week, there is going to be fun activities and ‘green’ events and eco-friendly projects.”

Johnson said the true attraction for this kind of event is the uniting of like-minded people – people who want to spend Earth Day learning about the importance of treating our planet as well as we can.

“We really wanted to make this a full day event with vendors, games for kids, live music and food,” says O’Brien. “We are all encouraging everyone to come out so that we can make this an annual thing.”

“Earth Day reminds us that we need to take action now to protect our environment before it's too late,” added Gaynor.

• To learn more about Green Minds, visit www.greenmaidscleaning.com
• To learn more about Visions Kitchens and Design, visit www.visionskitchens.com
• To learn more about Hillary Gaynor and the Bean Group, visit www.hillarygaynor.com
• To learn more about the Green Alliance, visit www.greenalliance.biz