We celebrated our 12th Annual DRYerson Festival on Saturday, June 30, 2018 at Ryerson Station State Park. It was a hot day, but that did not prevent over 60 people from joining us for the afternoon, celebrating a place we love.
Our day began with a pre-Festival hike, thanks to our friends at the Sierra Club, which allowed participants to see the places we have worked to protect throughout the years. Over the course of the day, we heard music from Bree Otto, a local musician from Adah, PA, who played an acoustic set of popular songs across a variety of genres. Follow her on social media to see where she’s playing next! While she played, representatives from DCNR were a short stroll away in a separate pavilion, showcasing plans for updates to Ryerson Station State Park, answering questions, and taking input directly from the community.
Many people took advantage of Our Children Our Earth’s presence at the Festival: they were selling environmentally-friendly, plastic-free goods, like portable utensil sets that are designed to replace single-use plastic ones at ballparks or music festivals or concerts. They also provided all of the bamboo plates and utensils that were used at the DRYerson Festival as part of their “Plates To Go” service: they rent out their plates and handle the cleanup so that we can avoid wasteful, unnecessary plastic. This is something CCJ will continue to do at our events, and we hope this will inspire others – individuals and organizations – to make whatever changes they can so that we can collectively live our values.
A brief word of thanks is insufficient to address the hard work that so many contributed to this event: CCJ staff and board could not have held such a successful event without the help of our volunteers. We also greatly appreciate the support from our sponsors , Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Pittsburgh United, One Pennsylvania, Mountain Watershed Association, Harry Enstrom Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, Monongahela Friends Group, Conservation Voters of PA, and Center for Popular Democracy.
