April 6, 2025
By Heath Scofield
On Saturday, April 26, bring your family to Combustion Brewery and Taproom (80 West Church Street) for the fourth annual Pickerington Lions Club Earth Day Event. Join friends and neighbors for a day of helping the planet, education and fun.
Plant Native Trees
At Hague Nature Preserve (across Hill Road from the Sycamore Creek neighborhood), David Hague and Tammy Miller of the Coyote Run Nature Preserve will be overseeing the planting of 2,700 native trees.
“This is our chance to give back to the environment,” Hague said. “We humans tend to be pretty hard on Planet Earth so let’s plant a few trees!”
The trees were donated by Coyote Run and the Pickerington Lions’ Club. To sign up for tree planting, please visit the event page at Green Columbus.
The ground will be uneven, so please wear sturdy shoes. Head coverings and long sleeves are recommended as a precaution against poison ivy and ticks. Children must be supervised by an adult.
Help Pick Up Litter
On April 26, community members can volunteer for litter clean-up shifts starting at 9 am and ending at 3 pm. The shifts are one hour, but you can sign up for as many openings as you wish. Green Columbus will provide gloves, grabbers, and garbage bags or you may choose to bring your own equipment. Wear long sleeves and pants. Insect spray, sunscreen and drinking water are highly recommended.
Litter removal will focus on public areas of Violet Township including city parks, Pickerington Village, the main library and school buildings. You can register at the event page at Green Columbus.
Sign up for FREE Shrubs
The Wild Ones of Fairfield County will be distributing FREE native shrubs at Combustion for those who sign up ahead of time. Everyone who registers can receive up to five plants.
“We will be giving different types of shrubs which will be provided to us by Green Columbus,” said Michelle Hill of Greener Violet. “Each shrub will be tagged with a QR directing to Green Columbus planting instruction videos and a QR directing to Leaves for Wildlife to share all pertinent plant information.”
You can reserve up to five of these plants by visiting Wild Ones Fairfield County Ohio: Earth Day Tree Giveaway or email pro.pollinator.initiative@gmail.com. Hurry! – Many have already been claimed.
Opportunities with Wild Ones
Wild Ones will also be providing free native seed packets. There will be two native wildflower blends plus beneficial non-native options including Cosmos and Zinnia.
Members of Wild Ones will be on hand to answer questions on a variety of topics including the importance of pollinator gardens, what constitutes an invasive plant, and how to volunteer year-round.
“Earth Day is one day on our calendar,” Hill said. “For a few hours we volunteer to remove waste from our land and waterways, remove harmful vegetation and plant helpful vegetation. We gather on this one day to do work that is integral to our existence, BUT to do the best practices- to make true change, it takes a full community actively working towards a goal. It is called ‘Earth Day’, truly it should be 365 Earth Day without NO Plane(t) B. There is hope in these efforts. We can do this,”
Food, Freebies and Fun
The Spanglish Latin food truck will serve delicious fare including tacos and loaded fries from 11 am to 9 pm. Every volunteer will receive a free drink token for Combustion (must be 21 for alcohol) as well as a free slice of pizza from Flyers!
Strader’s Garden Center will set up a pop-up plant shop from 11 am to 2 pm and the Wandering Quill Mobile Bookshop will pull up from 3 pm to 8 pm. Live music will be provided by Christ Lester from 1 pm to 4 pm.
Fairfield County Soil and Water will be on hand with information about their services and how you can help throughout the year.
Ruby Joy Boutique will collect used clothing for recycling. In the upcoming weeks, more village businesses will be announcing their own special tie-ins.
Fairfield County Public Transit will provide a shuttle service for those wishing to catch a ride.
The city of Pickerington and the Fairfield County Park District will be leading a Spring Wildflower hike from 3-4 pm at Coyote Run. Interested individuals can register through the city’s website.
More Information:
For more information and updates on the event, please follow Pickerington Earth Day on Facebook.
Pickerington Online is scheduling the volunteers, so if you have any questions related to helping out, please email editor@pickeringtononline.com.
Special thanks to Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring the event!
