GODFREY - The fifth annual Riverbend Earth Day celebration Saturday at an island near Piasa Harbor may have been the best one yet, attracting more than 1,000 guests and 67 vendors.

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“This festival was everything we could have asked for,” said Amy Curry, outreach coordinator for the Nature Institute in Godfrey. “We had great partners, wonderful weather and great friends. The Sierra Club was one of the key partners in the event, with NGREC, the Great Rivers Land Trust and Alton CVB. We had 15 community sponsors.”

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The event featured appearances by the Treehouse Wildlife Center, Serengeti Steve’s Reptile Experience, The Lodge Brothers Bluegrass, The Buckhannon Brothers, tasty food vendors, nature arts and crafts, fishing, paddling, hikes, along with an Artisan’s market, environmental education. Riverbend Yoga provided classes and there was electronic reycycling.

Curry said she believes these types of Earth Day celebrations are extremely important for the region.

“This was our biggest Earth Day Festival in the five years we have done it,” she said. “We tripled the amount of response we received from vendors, sponsors and support from the community. It was such a great day, with a positive group of all different walks of life. Everyone wanted to celebrate the earth in a different way and when we can create an event to bring all those people together for one cause, it is really powerful.”

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