The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Charles Salvatore Students enjoyed activities, booths, music and more yesterday during dining services and EcoHusky's Earth Day Spring Fling.

In the past week, the Storrs campus has seen a number of activist festivals, gatherings, parties and campouts. Each has drawn a strong turnout while promoting its message and earning new adherents. But yesterday, EcoHusky, in conjunction with the Department of Dining Services, overshadowed all of them.

In celebration of Earth Day, the groups threw the 2008 Earth Day Spring Fling outside of Homer D. Babbidge Library. The festivities, which included nearly 30 different groups with educational displays, games and give-a-ways, as well as a live band and Local Routes cookout, stretched the full length of Fairfield Way.

"It's the biggest Earth Day celebration UConn has had in a long time," said Richard Miller, director of UConn's office of environmental policy (OEP). "You'd probably have to look back to the early 70s [to rival this year's celebration]."

The Spring Fling drew crowds of approximately 1,500 to 2,000 students and community members throughout the afternoon and more than a few odd characters. In addition to Jonathan the Husky wandering the crowd decked out in EcoHusky garb and posing for pictures, festival-goers were entertained by four street performers on stilts, three man-sized vegetable characters, two cows (one real and one man in a suit) and claymation character Gumby. During the band's performance, the characters and performers gathered in the middle of the fling and danced.

"Earth Day is huge compared to last year," said Alysse Lembo, a 6th-semester natural resources major and EcoHusky co-coordinator. "It really helps that we teamed up with [Dining Services'] Local Routes. The food is a big draw and they've really helped attract more people and been able to help us get a lot more done. The turnout has been awesome."

The Department of Dining Services provided locally produced hamburgers, hot dogs, mushroom-burgers, ice cream and produce. Additionally, they played a key role in bringing in many of the groups showcasing at the festival, according to Lembo. After eating, festival-goers learned about recycling and composting food waste from EcoHusky volunteers stationed at every trash bin. According to Jessica Regan, an 8th-semester English major and EcoHusky volunteer, the plates and plastic wear, which were made from corn, were specially formulated to be compostable.

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