Keep Fremont Beautiful Board of Directors member Al Sawtelle, right, talks to area students Thursday during KFB’s Eco-Fair at Christensen Field. (Photo / Katie Sears Thompson)
Keep Fremont Beautiful hosted its annual Eco-Fair Thursday at Christensen Field.
Fourth-graders from Arlington, Fremont Public Schools, Bergan Catholic School and Trinity Lutheran attend the event to learn about things such as recycling and clean water.
“It is a one-day fair and they attend in three different groups,” KFB Executive Director Casey Vaughan said. “We had about 160 at each of our three sessions and it is an opportunity for them to learn about some important environmental topics.”
Those topics for 2024 also included: waste reduction, conservation, community beautification, green living, litter prevention and household hazardous waste disposal. There were also activity tables that focused on repurposing projects.
“The kids are able to visit all of the educational tables and then they go to one repurposing table out of four and get to complete a repurposing craft,” Vaughan said.
The event has proven to be popular with the students.
“I think they enjoy all of the aspects of it,” Vaughan said. “They have about an hour to go around to all of these booths. It is not structured so they are not timed at each booth and they just kind of have free rein.”
Prior to the event, KFB puts together a workbook that has a map of all the different tables. It shares what the various organizations will talk about. There are also two or three questions provided in the workbook that students can find answers for at each table.
The organizations that participated at the educational event included:
Waste Connections, talking about curbside recycling.
City Recycling Center that was manned by board members and advisory board members.
All Metals Market on metal recycling.
S2 Rolloffs and Refuse on their Hefty energy bag program.
Keep Nebraska Beautiful on food waste.
Conservation Nebraska and AmeriCorps on composting.
Nebraska Rural Water Association on groundwater protection.
City of Fremont on water conservation and electrical conservation.
Keene Memorial Library on solar power.
Retired Fremont Public Schools educator Rich Hirschman brought his electric car and talked about that.
Siffring Landscaping on tree care.
The Three Rivers Public Health Department, Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, Fremont Police Department, Fremont Fire Department, the University of Nebraska extension office in Dodge County, Lower Platte NRD, Habitat for Humanity, Prairie Peacemakers, and Fremont Parks and Recreation Department were among the other groups that participated.
The event also included more than 70 volunteers in various roles. Vaughan noted that the fair wouldn’t be possible without community support.
“We have an amazing community,” she said. “The day truly wouldn’t be possible without all of the organizations and volunteers that help out.”
