Spring Break
Community wraps up Earth Day festivities
Erin McCarthy
Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: News
Members of the Western Illinois University and McDonough County communities gathered in the Spoon River College auditorium for the Macomb Earth Day Fair, marking the finale of Earth Day celebrations, on Saturday, April 25.
Visitors were able to play with native Illinois critters, see a variety of environmental presentations, find out what green vendors are present in the Macomb area and rub elbows with their environmentally-minded neighbors.
The annual event was sponsored by Environmentally Concerned Citizens, Western Prairie Audubon Society, Spoon River College and the Nature Quilt Project, and featured a variety of lectures and activities geared toward adults and children.
Mary McMahon, a fifth grade teacher at West Prairie Middle School, was a highlighted speaker at the fair. McMahon has gone to the Children's Rainforest in Costa Rica on partial scholarship from the Nature Quilt Project.
"I went there for 13 days and came back and shared my experiences with my classroom," McMahon said. "I was able to do a month-long unit with the pre-middle school students."
McMahon, who is also on the Nature Quilt Project steering committee, said that her organization has done several activities in order to motivate the community and encourage environmental awareness.
"We sponsored a read about nature and a poetry contest, and we provide field trips to students," McMahon said. "We're also supporting the quilt and such, and we had a grant to provide art instruction for schools that don't have an art instructor."
According to McMahon, the adverse weather conditions had a positive effect on the fair, and she was excited to see the large amount of student attendance.
"A group from Bushnell was going to do a service project out at Horn Field Campus, but the rains ended up ruining that, so they came here," McMahon said. "I think they really enjoyed our storyteller, Susan Fowler, because she was so dynamic, and all of the activities downstairs with the turtles and snakes brought in a lot of students too, so that was really fun."
Visitors were able to play with native Illinois critters, see a variety of environmental presentations, find out what green vendors are present in the Macomb area and rub elbows with their environmentally-minded neighbors.
The annual event was sponsored by Environmentally Concerned Citizens, Western Prairie Audubon Society, Spoon River College and the Nature Quilt Project, and featured a variety of lectures and activities geared toward adults and children.
Mary McMahon, a fifth grade teacher at West Prairie Middle School, was a highlighted speaker at the fair. McMahon has gone to the Children's Rainforest in Costa Rica on partial scholarship from the Nature Quilt Project.
"I went there for 13 days and came back and shared my experiences with my classroom," McMahon said. "I was able to do a month-long unit with the pre-middle school students."
McMahon, who is also on the Nature Quilt Project steering committee, said that her organization has done several activities in order to motivate the community and encourage environmental awareness.
"We sponsored a read about nature and a poetry contest, and we provide field trips to students," McMahon said. "We're also supporting the quilt and such, and we had a grant to provide art instruction for schools that don't have an art instructor."
According to McMahon, the adverse weather conditions had a positive effect on the fair, and she was excited to see the large amount of student attendance.
"A group from Bushnell was going to do a service project out at Horn Field Campus, but the rains ended up ruining that, so they came here," McMahon said. "I think they really enjoyed our storyteller, Susan Fowler, because she was so dynamic, and all of the activities downstairs with the turtles and snakes brought in a lot of students too, so that was really fun."
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