Earth Day weekend festival returns to Alameda Park in Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The catastrophic 1969 oil platform blow out in the Santa Barbara Channel was the gushing drive behind the creation of Earth Day in 1970 and every year since then.   That leak sent thousands of gallons of oil into coastal waters and coated every boat in the Santa Barbara Harbor.       The emergency scene with oily birds and dead marine life was shown around the world.
  From that came legislation, the development of the Environmental Protection Agency and environmental activism fropm the streets to elected popsitions.

  This weekend the Earth Day festival returns to Alameda Park in downtown Santa Barbara where it was before the pandemic.
  The Community Environmental Council (CEC) is the organizer.  The CEC's Kathi King said, "we've got a wonderful lineup.   It's gonna look and feel like it did in days prior to 2019 and before and it's going to be really fun."
  Musical performances,  vendors and many environmental groups will be ready to see thousands of people at the event.  The goal for the CEC is to educate,  inspire  and  act.
  King said, "and one of our goals is to do all three of those things for people that come and maybe they meet someone or have a conversation with a non profit and that inspires them to do something on their own afterward even if it's just one thing.  One of the more popular areas will be on Santa Barbara Street in between the two sides of Alameda Park.  It will be closed off to traffic and there will be electric cars and bicycles to inspect and test drive.

Among those bringing in vehicles will be Chevrolet, Audi and Volkswagon.

"We will have other  groups here that  will give information about all the incentives on these cars so if you don't want to ask the owners directly," said King.

    Actress and activist Jane Fonda will be presenting this years Environmental Heros Awards on behalf of of the environmental groups Greenpeace and Last Chance Alliance.   King said, "we are honoring two heroes  that have done work with those groups Nelleli Cobo and  Cesar Aguirre  who have done work in the climate justice space."
   Earth Day in Santa Barbara may have come from a disaster, but it's led to cutting edge changes in our society.
  "We are the birthplace of the modern environmental movement. Earth Day has its roots here and people love to come to Santa Barbara and it's a big draw for all those reasons and our Earth Day Festival is one of the biggest on the west coast," said King.

For more information go to:  The Community Environmental Council Earth Day Festival

(More video, photos and details will be added here later today)