EcoFest: Free Trees, DIY and Healthy Living

The 2016 EcoFest capitalizes on the do-it-yourself (DIY) craze with a focus on self-sufficient activities like growing your own food. New features this year include a tiny house on display built by a local school teacher and a how-to session on building your own aquaponics unit. In addition to the cooking demonstrations and live music, there is a revamped EcoKids Zone, a mobile insect petting zoo, The Royal Gauntlet’s Birds of Prey and a sumo bot competition in the Fabrication and Applied Research Lab.

The event is free and will take place 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, March 26 on the TCC Northeast Campus, 3727 East Apache Street.

The eighth annual Ecofest helps you live a greener and healthier life and is a celebration of the best ecofriendly practices in health and wellness, fitness and nutrition, home energy conservation, and home gardening and landscaping. A one-mile family fun run will kick-off the day’s events. You can register early and the first 50 participants are guaranteed a free T-shirt. Sessions will be presented on holistic medicine and others include an interactive stroke and CPR assessment course.

“Sustainable living isn’t hard and begins in the home with what we can do daily that add up to big differences in our lives,” said TCC Northeast Campus Director of Academic & Campus Services Mike Limas. “Last year, we built a community garden with the public’s help that has provided fresh produce such as broccoli, tomatoes, squash, and peppers to students who live in food deserts with limited access to grocery stores.”

A special celebration marking Arbor Day will take place at 10:45 a.m. in front of the Engineering Technology Building. EcoFest organizers, TCC leaders and Oklahoma State Representative Seneca Scott will plant a tree donated by Up With Trees. Families will be able to take home free trees and free seedlings provided by Up With Trees and the TCC Corrections Education program.

There are plenty of activities designed for family fun including horse-drawn wagon rides, face painting, and the Tulsa Life Flight Helicopter. The EcoKids Zone, in the Engineering Technology Building, introduces green concepts to children in an easy-to-understand format with activities to help kids get started with gardening, build a greenhouse, and use everyday household items like egg cartons and plastic bottles to create art.

2016EcoFest is presented by Public Service of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Farm and Food Alliance, Oklahoma State University Extension Office, R&G Family Grocers, and Up With Trees. Additional sponsors include Phi Theta Kappa, Reasor’s, TCC Campus Civitan, TCC Northeast Campus Horticulture Club, and the TCC Student Government Association.

A complete schedule as well as of the vendors and exhibitors is available at http://www.tulsacc.edu/ecofest.