EarthFest 2024
Sunday, April 21st 12:30 to 4:30 pm
at Peace Lutheran Church
Sunday, April 21st 12:30 to 4:30 pm
at Peace Lutheran Church
You’re invited to join us!
Sunday, April 21st from 12:30 to 4:30 pm
Address: 3201 Camino Tassajara, Danville
View Event Schedule HERE
We encourage you to carpool.
Water will be available in the Gathering Hall, and we encourage you to bring your own re-usable water bottle.
Food will be available for purchase in the Labyrinth Garden area.
Service animals are welcome. Please leave pets at home.
Our second annual Earth Day Festival is bringing together the local interfaith community along with partners of civic, school, and community organizations with a common purpose: channel our collective energies to more responsibly steward our sacred planet.
This Town of Danville community event is a collaborative celebration of Baháʼí, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Sufi, Hindu, Taoist, and Christian friends, with acknowledgement to our Indigenous relations.
The entire family will enjoy fun and learning opportunities throughout the afternoon of ritual, art, music, speakers, booths, activities, and ceremony. We will spotlight our eco-success stories, draw hope from one another, and inspire ongoing local commitment to action!
Our Faith Co-Sponsors
- Beth Chaim Congregation
- Danville Congregational Church
- Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County (ICCCC)
- Peace Lutheran Church
- Saint Joan of Arc Parish San Ramon
- St. Timothy’s Danville
- San Damiano Retreat
- San Ramon Baháʼí Community
- San Ramon Valley Islamic Center
- San Ramon Valley United Methodist Church
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Danville Stake
Thank you to all our co-sponsors and their members! It is with your financial commitment and support that EarthFest is happening.
(If you are a faith co-sponsor and need information about your commitment, please see our resources for faith co-sponsors.)
Supporting Faith Organizations
- AriYael Jewish Healing Center
- Contra Costa Interfaith Coalition
- ELCA World Hunger
- The Hindu Community of Danville, San Ramon, and Tri-Valley Area
Teachers, Musicians, and Performers
- Eve Decker
- Flock of Flutes
- Gale Ranch Middle School Chamber Orchestra
- Inspired By Trees
- Jerusalema African Earth Joy Dance with Nana-Dictta Graves and Friends
- Kaleo and Elise Ching
- Kathy Balint, Hula
- Khalilah Ramirez, The Dance of Peace
- Natraj Dance Academy Group Pleasanton
- Pili Moreno
- Renée Benmeleh
- Rewire Community Dancers
- Stories of Hope with Ben Lavender from Central San, Ally Putthongvilai from Sustainable Leaders in Action, Michele Nikoloff of White Pony Express, and Susan Stephenson of California Interfaith Power and Light
- SunJams Drummers
- The Pacific Choir
Community Partners
- Asian Pacific Islander – Coalition for Health Against Tobacco
- Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan
- Candace Andersen, Supervisor District 2
- Central San
- Christa Marting, sharing about environmental-related careers
- East Bay Regional Park District
- Friends of San Ramon Creek
- Harper School
- Interfaith Climate Action Network of ICCCC
- MCE Clean Energy
- Mount Diablo Interpretive Association
- Open Heart Kitchen
- Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Rescue
- Rewire Community
- Saint Raymond School Fine Arts
- Save Mount Diablo
- Sustainable Contra Costa
- Sustainable Leaders in Action
- The Crayon Initiative
- Town of Danville and Police Community Booth
- White Pony Express
Art Exhibit Contributors
- Barry Denenberg
- Bill Carmel
- Bob Shonkoff
- Deborah Lee
- Deborah Wechsler
- Dimitri Koovshinoff
- Elise Dirlam Ching
- Jessica Kolis
- Joy Severin
- Kaleo Ching
- Lorrie Fink
- Mary LaCasse
The exhibit is curated by Bill Carmel and Deborah Wechsler.
“The earth is not broken, but our relationship to the earth and one another is broken.
Restoring the earth without restoring our relationship with the earth is an empty exercise.”
-Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass¹
As I-SRV plans this year’s EarthFest, we seek to hold the intention of gratitude and caring relationship with the Earth, all peoples, and all expressions of life.
Relationships start with respect—caring and taking care of a relationship. Caring stirs our responsibility for restoring the earth and the essential key: Reciprocity with the earth. The current emphasis of ‘sustainability’ remains focused on, “How much can we take?” Reciprocity asks, ‘How much can we give to the earth?” The earth is Source, not mere resource. It is through respectful and enduring relationship that healing and a restored land become possible. We get to choose how we relate to the earth. Our most challenging and inspiring work lies in restoring a relationship of respect, responsibility, reciprocity—reverencing Life and Love.
We encourage you to learn more about Robin Wall Kimmerer, listen to her teachings, and read Braiding Sweetgrass. We have been in conversations with her with the hope she would be able to give an address at EarthFest this year. It isn’t feasible for her to participate in this year’s event, but we can still benefit from the wisdom she shares through reading and videos.
Braiding Sweetgrass is available from the local, independent bookstore Rakestraw Books. You can call (925) 837- 7337 or order online to reserve your copy. Rakestraw Books is located in the Trader Joe’s Shopping Center in Downtown Danville on Railroad Ave.
“Land as sustainer. Land as identity.
Land as grocery store and pharmacy.
Land as connection to our ancestors.
Land as moral obligation. Land as sacred. Land as self.”
-Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass¹
¹Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants (Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions, 2013).
Gratitude for the People Planning EarthFest
We greatly appreciate the dedication and leadership of Deborah Wechsler, Chair of EarthFest. Also thank you to all the members of the EarthFest Task Force for their contributions in planning this significant and inclusive community event.
Photos from our 2023 event by Rev. Raymond Waespi
