Last Sunday was Earth Day around the world. We had our sixth annual Earth Day Celebration on Monday with a little over 1,000 citizens — young and old — joining us for fun environmental style.

If you missed it, you still have a chance to celebrate the Earth every day by the choices you make about litter, water conservation, recycling and waste reduction, and living in harmony with our natural surroundings.

An event like this takes a lot of people giving effort — and even sacrifices. More than 170 volunteers worked to make variety of activities that included games, crafts and displays. Some volunteers, like our friends in the DA’s and child support office, put in 12 hours on a holiday!

We just want to thank all the volunteers at booths and who helped with set up, including the Liberty County Public Works Department and the Youth Challenge Academy. Set up was not easy. Wind gusts ranged from 20 to 30 miles an hour for most of the day. Everyone made the best of it even with modifications, like no tents and constantly securing items on tables.

We want to thank our sponsors: the Keep Liberty Beautiful Advisory Board, the Liberty County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Georgia Power, the Coastal Courier, and, of course, the Liberty County YMCA, for providing such a great venue. We also could not have this event without the original sponsors: a coalition of the cities of Hinesville, Flemington, Walthourville and Allenhurst, as well as Liberty and Long counties.

We started this celebration six years ago as a way to create awareness about stormwater pollution and the lifestyle changes you can make to minimize the effects of nonpoint pollution on our waterways. Visit our Facebook page for more ideas on ways we can all protect our local waters.

We learned several years ago that we had to have help —and a lot of it — to provide information in this type of format. So our booth hosts and additional partners, who provide door prizes and other support, really make all the difference. Thanks to all of these fantastic community partners:

SNF Chemtall, Ardyss K. Bell Relay for Life Team, Liberty County Blazers, Pleasant Grove Sons of Allen, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Liberty Regional Water Resource Council, Hinesville Water Department, MMS Builders Club, Delta Sigma Theta Gems, Yates-Astro, Mike Reed Chevrolet, Coastal DNR, The Heritage Bank, McDonalds Corp., Doughnut Connection, Wentz Family, Balfour Beatty Communities/Marne Point, La Quinta Inn, LCCVB, Lowcountry Real Diaper Circle, Georgia Power, LCHS Green Club, Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation , Georgia Recycling Coalition, Sisterz with Vision, John and Pam Henderson, city of Walthourville, Georgia Forestry Commission, Liberty County Mosquito Control, Liberty County 4-H, Live Oak Public Libraries, Hampton Island Club, First Presbyterian Christian Academy, Hinesville Area Arts Council, Fort Stewart/HAAF Environmental Recycling, YMCA Teen Achievers, Olivia Mickalonis, Cynthia Tupper, Hinesville Fire Department, Farmers Natural Foods, Hinesville Day Spa, VIP Business Products, Liberty County Chamber of Commerce, C.A. Sittle, Laura Troutman, Royal Restrooms, Climate Controlled Storage, Kidd Doobie, Jason Childers, Reggie Sage, Bruce McCartney, Auraleigha Reneau, Jonathan Golden, Jamie Rearley, Johnny Schaadt, Kathy Poole, Terri Willett, Leah Poole, and Willie Cato.

Thanks to all of you as well as our special guests: Ronald McDonald, Louie the Lightning Bug, The Lorax and the truly unforgettable BagMan! Earth Day rocked because of all of you and the many, many families who joined us for the fun.
The important message here is really every day should be Earth Day. We live here. There is no Planet #2 waiting for us, so we better take care of this one.

Upcoming Keep Liberty Beautiful events

• Recycle It! Fair — Saturday, May 12, Quarterly Recycle It! Fair 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Liberty County Health Department parking lot.

It accepts electronics and other household hazardous waste items and household goods.

We will also accept shoes for Soles 4 Souls.