The annual Procession of the Species parade up Main Avenue kicked off Earth Day Durango celebrations downtown on Saturday.
As is tradition, participants were encouraged to dress up as their favorite plants, animals or other organisms in celebration of the giant rock hurtling through space humanity calls home.
About 30 groups and over 100 individuals participated in the Procession of Species, which began shortly after 10:30 a.m. and ended in Buckley Park, where festivities – including music from Boom Sonic, a Stillwater youth band, and headliner Afrobeatniks – would continue until about 3 p.m.
Food vendors Luv Tempeh, Cardinal Coffee, LongDoo Colorado, Pupuseria Torogoz, Turtle Lake Refuge, and Love N Juice and Cafe Amor were set up around the park.
Gail Harriss, an Earth Day Durango organizer, said Earth Day Durango was a zero-waste event, and organizers and partners were trying to be sustainable.
“Today is all about Earth Day and loving our Earth, whether that’s sustainability, environment, reducing our carbon emissions, social justice. … It’s celebrating, it’s learning through having fun,” she said.
Contest winners were announced shortly after the Procession of Species, with adults and children acknowledged for their creative getups. Organizers provided first names only for the winners.
Jack, a 6-year-old boy, was selected for his bird costume made of recycled materials. The costume had an impressive wingspan.
Annie was declared a winner for her jellyfish costume.
Julian made a wolf costume out of recycled materials all by himself.
Leah was acknowledged for her “full flower ensemble” costume.
In the adult category, Mallory made a great blue heron costume, Heather Erb claimed the title of “most recycled costume” for her Kokanee salmon river run costume, and the Fort Lewis College Environmental Center created a garden of plants.
Hillary and Vanessa Frank worked together on a papier-mâché and chicken wire sandhill crane costume that literally stood above the crowd.
“It took a lot of engineering,” Vanessa said.
She said she and Hillary were inspired by the Bread and Puppet Theater Collective based in Vermont.
“They do a lot of radical puppet theater, and so we were looking for something that is symbolic and also disarming and invites attention to bring more fanfare to demonstrations,” she said.
She said Earth Day is about holding corporations “that destroyed the Earth” responsible and celebrating what people cherish.
Durango’s Mayor Gilda Yazzie and La Plata County Commissioner Elizabeth Philbrick spoke before the music began.
Yazzie said Durango is deeply connected and committed to the natural world from the Animas River to the San Juan Mountains.
“We are surrounded by beauty and reminded daily of the importance of protecting it,” she said. “Today we celebrate that connection and recommit ourselves to caring for our environment.”
Philbrick said human beings have sought ways to differentiate themselves from other species throughout written history, claiming tools, culture and the written word as their own – only to find out many species have more in common with humans than realized.
“Let’s pay attention not to the things that make us different, but to the things that make us the same,” she said. “… This Earth that we live on is the thing that makes us all the same. We need to take care of that mother who has been taking care of us.”
Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22. Although Earth Day Durango’s celebration was held Saturday, a variety of ecoconscious events are scheduled throughout the month. More information is available at bit.ly/3Owb6is.
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