North Texas has a full weekend ahead celebrating the planet and raising eco-friendly awareness at a 2-day Fair Park festival. Earth Day Dallas 2012 is April 21-22. The purpose of this outdoor festival is to increase environmental awareness in all aspects of North Texas daily life. Admission is FREE for EDD 2012, as advocates and environmentally friendly citizes strive to unite and promote the ideas of how green lifestyle choices can not only, lower costs of living but also improve our health and help to save lives. The very first large scale Earth Day Dallas was actually held just last Aapril, and EDD was founded the year prior in 2010.
Anyone else noticing this Fair Park trend? It seems to be becoming a more popular venue for our large North Texas events, or at least a few more than the typical ones. With 600,000 square feet of both indoor and outdoor space, Fair Park is a great location for Earth Day 2012, the same way it was for events like: Reggae Festival, Taste of Dallas, Fair Park Holiday, NTIF, KwanzaaFest and of course the world renowned State Fair of Texas.
A full weekend schedule of all these special activities can be found HERE!! So you can be sure to plan ahead.
Food
Concessions at EDD will include organic food, vegan food and some of your favorite festival treats.
Parking
Attendees can park in the general Fair Park lots which are typically about $10. There is also bike parking provided inside the park or you could “Go Green” by using DART’s Green line right up to the front steps of Fair Park, right between Gates 3 and 4.
Pets Allowed Earth Day 2012 is a pet-friendly event, but be sure to keep your pal on a leash and bring the necessary pet-waste disposal bags. Remember, it’s still “Earth Day” so let’s keep it clean.
Volunteer Opportunities
-Must be at least 18 years old
-Register on Signupgenius and include a valid e-mail and phone number
-Positions available for Pre-Event Setup on Thursday, Friday Saturday
-Positions available for Volunteer Assignments Saturday and Sunday
October 30th brings a FREE event that will benefit Minnie’s Food Pantry and give the family something fun to do for about 3 hours. West Plano Family-pa-looza is like Double Dare meets Fall Festival. Enjoy bounce houses, obstacle courses, carnival games, interactive games, rock wall, slides, face painting, crafts vendors and other outdoor entertainment from 3pm to 6pm on Sunday, Oct. 30th. West Plano Family-pa-looza will take place in the fields located between Gulledge Elementary and Robinson Middle School. Click here to see the entire list of activities you can expect.
The event’s beneficiary, Minnie’s Food Pantry, is a nonprofit organization that provides free quality food to feed families in need. Minnie’s Food Pantry distributes protein sources like meat (frozen or canned) peanut butter, fresh fruits, vegetables, milk and non-perishable items to clients. Eligibility to receive food is determined by the federal income guidelines which base a person’s need on their income. Every two weeks Minnie’s Food Pantry provides a free supply of emergency groceries per household for residents who do not have enough food because of their lack of resources to purchase it. Five dollars and forty cents can feed a family of four for a week. Non-perishable food items will be accepted at Familypalooza but monetary donations can go even further. Support Minnie’s Food Pantry at West Plano Family-pa-looza (Sunday, 3:00pm – 6:00pm) and ‘Just Feed One, while having some fun’!
*Raffle tickets will also be available for purchase soon. All proceeds from West Plano Family-pa-looza go to Minnie’s Food Pantry.
If you can’t make the festival,
you can still donate to Minnie’s Food Pantry online.
Location:
(Between Gulledge Elementary and Robinson Middle School) 6800 Preston Meadow Drive
Plano 75024
Rest assured that even after the summer months have ended and the kids are back in school, you’ll still have the opportunity to enjoy some free outdoor concerts, And although we can still have heat in September in Texas, it should be cooling off just a little or be the more bearable heat. Texas Power presents a Free Fall concert series at Levitt Pavilion in Arlingtonevery Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday of each week in September. The Fall Concert Series begins on September 1st at 7:30pm. A new artist or band performs each time as the series will only last for a month.
With Levitt Pavilions located across the US (Memphis, LA, Pasadena, Westport & Bethlehem) Arlington shares the commonality of celebrating its own community with free professional concerts displaying a rich array of music. Each year 50 or more take place!
Enjoy Free music under the stars in the weekend evenings of September. Picnic baskets, coolers, lawn chairs and blankets are welcome to the park. While they do allow alcoholic beverages, no glass containers are allowed and concessions are available at the pavilion.
Texas Power’s Free Fall concert series brings Arlingtonians Free music under the stars with various genres of music like: rock, blues, indie pop, indie-rock, salsa, jazz, country, alternative and funk!
Souls Rebels Brass Band - Sept 29
Wayanay Inka - Sept 22
There will be no concert on the 18th and Ecofest falls on September 17th when Velvet Love Box & Spoonfed Tribe will both perform. You can view the full calendar of performances for the Texas Power Fall Concert Seriesright here! The final performance will be by Deryl Dodd & The Homesick Cowboys October 1st, giving the audience a taste of Texas music with contemporary flair.
The Levitt Pavilion is located at 100 W. Abram Street in Founders Plaza. Not far from the UTA campus it’s right at the corner of Abram and Center Street. It is directly across the street from City Hall.
On Saturday, August 13th & 27th Half Price Books will have their Free movie showings in the parking lot. They’ve been showing flicks in the parking lot since June and it’s their 3rd annual Movies in the Parking Lot event. Come out to the Half Price Books located at 5803 E. Northwest Highway in Dallas at 8:45pm to see “The Incredibles”. If you can’t make it that weekend join us the 27th for “The Chronicles of Narnia- The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe”. Feel fee to bring your favorite lawn chair and even some snacks or cold drinks as we close out the month with Movies in the Parking Lot. There’s plenty room for you and the fam in the “outdoor movie theatre”! You may even find a great book to buy before the show! Half Price Books is open every day from 9am to 11pm. The only thing that’ll stop this event is bad weather (rain) and we all know that’s been far from the forecast nowadays. Enjoy a Free movieSaturday nights under the stars with Half Price Books of Dallas. (only one block east of Central Expressway)
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