Committee readies Earth Day, Healthy Kids Day and bike rodeo outreach tied to Safe Streets planning

Mary provided sustainability updates to the PED Committee on April 9 and described several near-term community events tied to outreach for the Safe Streets plan.

Mary said the Earth Day event will be largely closed to vehicle traffic and run as a 0-waste event with food trucks and more than 30 vendor tables; she reported seven sponsors had contributed $100 each to underwrite incidentals and scholarships for environmental-science students. "We're, gonna have composting, and, I think we have over 30 different tables of different sorts," Mary said.

Organizers asked the committee to help publicize the consultant's April 22 public workshop and to staff tabling events (Earth Day, Dogwood Festival, farmers markets) so the consultant can capture input across town. Mary also noted the town will celebrate Arbor Day on April 24 at Town Hall Green.

On bicycle outreach, committee members described a helmet-fitting session on April 18 (120 helmets available for fitting) and an open-house ride event on May 2. A committee member said Jason from Trek recommended Chaz Foster, president of Sound Cyclists, to lead bike-safety programming after Trek could not commit. Volunteers, a bike repair contact and police bike officers were suggested as supports for both the rodeo and community rides.

The committee agreed to compile volunteer sign-ups and use newsletter and social media channels to amplify event details.