The outdoor festival ―which featured over 100 eco-friendly exhibitors― drew individuals and families from all over Loudoun and surrounding counties, who were entertained with wildlife demonstrations, live music and a green marketplace offering a large variety of earth-friendly products and services.

“We are just thrilled with today’s turnout,” said Oya Simpson, organizing co-chair of the event, “And the vendors and exhibitors are, too, of course!”

An ongoing mission of the EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival, said Simpson, is to get the next generation of environmental stewards excited about sustainability.

With that in mind, all local environmental school groups were invited to exhibit at the event and were recognized for their participation.

At a brief recognition ceremony on the main stage, eight clubs from six Loudoun County Public Schools were awarded certificates and congratulations from EarthDay@Loudoun Honorary Co-Chair and Loudoun County School Board Chairman John Stevens and by State Senator Mark Herring. A representative from Luckstone presented each group with a $100 award, and the groups each received a special map of the area from the Piedmont Environmental Council.

The school clubs and organizations recognized were: Briar Woods High School’s Keep Loudoun Beautiful Chapter; Briar Woods High School’s Science Department; Dominion High School’s Environmental Explorations; Eagle Ridge Middle School’s 8th Grade Science Department; Farmwell Station Middle School’s The Green Team, Farmwell Station Middle School’s Naturalist Club, Loudoun Valley High School’s Environmental Explorations; and, Sterling Middle School’s Naturalist Club.

“Hopefully, by attending today’s event and having a great time, families are excited about what they’ve learned here and will choose to incorporate environmentally-friendly actions and products into their daily lives,” said Simpson.

The 2nd annual EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival was organized by the Broadlands Wildlife Habitat Committee in partnership with the Piedmont Environmental Council. Major Sponsors of the event were Verizon, Clyde’s, VanMetre, I Am Modern Magazine, Fierce Hugs and 92.5 WINC-FM.

The next annual EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival will be held on Sunday, May 1, 2011. For more information, go to www.EarthDayatLoudoun.org.

Recently, our Loudoun leaders developed a countywide 30-year energy strategy which will “increase Loudoun’s standing as a regional, state, and national model of effective energy and climate management,” said County Energy Manager Najib Salehi. (Pictured on the right is Salehi accepting the 2009 “Green Government” Challenge on behalf of the county and Loudoun County Public Schools)

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott York told GreenSpeak@Loudoun, “Not only is emphasizing energy-efficiency in our government a smart financial strategy, it’s also the right thing to do.”

(York is an honorary co-chairman of the April 25 EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival event, along with John Stevens, chairman of the Loudoun County School Board.)

Below are some recent Loudoun County energy-efficiency mandates and achievements that we can all rally around (as posted on the county’s Web site):

• Loudoun County adopted LEED Silver as the Green Building standard for new county facilities.

• Adopted a 15% energy reduction goal for Loudoun County government by year 2012.

• Awarded with the 2008 and 2009 Virginia Municipal League’s “Green Government” Challenge in a joint effort with Loudoun County Public Schools.

• Created the Energy Conservation Cabinet composed of liaisons from every department to engage all employees in best practices to reduce energy, which yielded $124,000 in annual savings to date and growing.

• Pledged to reduce the county’s carbon emission by 3% in 2008 as part of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ “Cool Capital Challenge;” Met and exceeded that goal by an additional 3%.

• Conducted comprehensive energy audits of six major county facilities and identified facility improvements to reduce costs by 9% in those facilities.

• Began energy audits of the county’s remaining 44 buildings to identify retrofits and improvements to save additional energy costs.

• Implemented a telework program resulting in 125,000 less miles driven each month by
county employees.

• Reduced vehicle miles traveled by more than 26 million from Loudoun County Transit riders using public transportation in lieu of single occupant vehicles in fiscal year 2008.

• Saved 20.2 tons of NOx (noxides) emissions and 6.25 tons of VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) emissions by passengers using the Loudoun County commuter bus program.

• Implemented recycling programs in county government offices and schools resulting in the equivalent of 2.2 million kilowatt hours in energy savings per year.

• Increased the use of recycled content paper products including 35% post-consumer recycled copy paper (approximately 15 million sheets per year), and 100% recycled tissue paper and paper towels.

When choosing what to plant, landscaping experts and naturalists urge consumers to consider adding native species to your design.

“Native plants are those that evolved naturally in North America, prior to European colonization,” said John Magee, the landscape operations manager at GreenWorks, a garden center and landscaping firm located in Chantilly.

Native species have already adapted to our climate and soils, said Magee, and are typically less susceptible to pests and common diseases, and require less water than exotics.

“They also help keep nature in balance,” he said.

As an example, Magee noted the Russian Olive (its exotic partner is the Autumn Olive) which was imported here in the late 1800s from Europe for its ornamental value. The Russian Olive produces a berry that songbirds adore, but the invasiveness of this bush has, say ornithologists, caused a decline in the songbird population.

Because of the Russian Olive’s abundant berry production, songbirds often choose to nest in the lower branches of the bush. As a result, the songbirds and their offspring have become more susceptible to predators.

I asked Magee for some examples of native plants that Loudouners may want to consider adding to their home landscape design. He cited the Flowering Dogwood, Virginia Sweetspire, Mountain Laurel, Spicebush and Rhododendrons.

Even if you’re not that interested in a plant’s origination, some folks, said Magee, get a kick out of the historical aspect native shrubs and trees bring to a garden.

“Native plants have played an integral part in our cultural heritage,” he said. “Thomas Jefferson, for example, used ink derived from the native Inkberry bush to pen the Declaration of Independence, and Arrowwood, got its name because Native Americans used the shrub’s straight branches for arrow shafts.”

For more information on native plants in our area, check out this link produced by the Loudoun County Master Gardeners organization.

EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival is going on as planned, however, we have laid some possible scenarios for the today.

• If there are severe thunderstorms in the area in the early morning hours and you are supposed to set-up during that time,
  • you can come after the storms have passed to set-up.  This will make things more rushed and there won’t be as many volunteers to go around, but that be our best option.

• If there are no thunderstorms in the morning, and it is just raining,
  • we will set-up as in the schedule.  If you have items to sell that could get ruined if it rains on them, again, set-up later.

• If we are set-up and we get a thunderstorm,
  • we will ask all visitors and exhibitors to either go to their cars or go to Clyde’s to get out of the storms path. Once the thunderstorm has passed, we will continue on.

The bottom line is that each company has to use their own best judgment about tomorrow.

If you or your company feel the threat is too great, we will certainly understand if you don’t want to come.  If this is the case, please let us know your intentions.  Please forward this to anyone at your business that we may not have their email addresses.

Thank you so much for wanting to participate in this event and let’s all hope the storm dissipates by the time it reaches us.  Please contact us if there are any questions.

Lori Seidmeyer 703-615-6113 or Oya Simpson 703-725-8040

*This information has been sent to all the exhibitors and volunteers contact information we have been given.

We hope that you will come and join us because with showers being likely, we will continue with our celebration. If the weather condition becomes unsafe, our website and Facebook page will have update by 6am.

Pete Hampel, co-owner of Moss Building & Design and a green-certified professional, feels passionately about making sure his customers know they have the capacity to go green if they so choose.

Hampel meets many folks, he says, who are interested in remodeling their homes, but they assume that choosing environmentally-safe products and energy-efficient designs will blow their project budgets.

“Green is not about spending money or what someone else’s definition of ‘green’ is, and it’s not a final destination in itself,” said Hampel. “Green is applied common sense that can mean taking baby steps. Ultimately, the more we all do, the better off we all will be.”

Here are some eco-savvy tips for you or your contractor to consider when planning your next building project:

1. Practice sustainable design. Consider how you’ll use your additional space and size the project right.

2. Try to reuse material from demolition.

3. Recycle debris.

4. Properly dispose of toxins.

5. Use low-VOC paints and adhesives when possible.

7. Use conventional products in a “green” way. For example, place windows appropriately to take advantage of or limit the sun’s rays.

For more information : National Green Building Program

Record Number of Eco-Exhibitors to be Featured at the 2nd Annual EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival this Sunday
Broadlands, VA – April 20

Organizers of the EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival planned for this Sunday at Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm say overall exhibitor and community interest in this year’s event is beyond their expectations. Having to turn away several exhibitors who offered sponsorships in the past few weeks due to venue limitations, event Co-chair Oya Simpson said the interest is unprecedented. “Our venue is a dream for anyone interested in eco-friendly alternatives, environmental organizations’ work and most importantly youth groups that are doing great sustainability projects. We will have over 100 exhibitor booths on-site weaved throughout the farm at Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm offering nearly everything imaginable for the eco-conscious individual,” said Simpson.

Last year’s inaugural event drew some 3,000 spectators, but Simpson expects many more at Sunday’s event. “We have certainly broadened our appeal since last year and have attracted a lot more interest as we have seen by our website page views and volume of calls to our committee members. I wouldn’t be surprised if we surpass 5,000 this year,” said Simpson.

John Stevens, the event’s Honorary Co-Chair and the Chairman of the Loudoun County Public School Board said EarthDay@Loudoun will also showcase efforts being made in the public schools to make a difference, “I am very proud that we have so many different organizations in our area middle schools and high schools that will be on hand to demonstrate their eco-efforts this year, including Farmwell Station Middle School’s ‘Green Team’ and Naturalist Club and the Briar Woods High School Science Department,” said Stevens.  The EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival will offer something for everyone, including a Green Marketplace offering earth-friendly products and services, hands-on educational activities for children, wildlife demonstrations, live music and –for attendees over 21– an organic wine and beer garden.

For more details, check out www.earthdayatloudoun.org, which provides a detailed map of the venue, an exhibitor list and an entertainment schedule. Admission is free and pets are welcomed. The EarthDay@Loudoun Family Festival is a non-profit event in partnership with The Piedmont  Environmental Council (PEC) and is sponsored by I Am Modern Lifestyle Magazine for Moms, Verizon, Van Metre, Clyde’s, Fierce Hugs and 92.5 WINC-FM.

View the attached PDF for exhibitors locations, entertainment stage locations and schedule.   This printable document will have everything you need to know! Layout Map

Like the community we serve, the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce is a leader in Northern Virginia, one of America’s fastest growing, most prosperous communities. Loudoun County Chamber has grown to become the largest Chamber of Commerce in Northern Virginia. Our more than 1,100 members form the premier network of businesses and community leaders in the nation’s most economically vibrant and fastest growing counties.