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Second Annual LoDo Earth Action Fest

Celebrate Denver’s Earth Week 2008 at the LoDo Earth Action Fest (LEAF) with the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, the EPA, and countless neighborhood organizations for this second annual, zero-waste, environmental extravaganza! This is a time to celebrate our hard work and determination in making sustainable choices for ourselves, our families, and our planet!

Join us as LEAF kicks off on Wednesday, April 23rd with a tree planting festivity as part of Mayor Hickenlooper’s Tree by Tree project and on behalf of Alliance Center tenants and local businesses. This event will include the planting of 200 native trees by Denver youth in the quest to add one million new trees in the metropolitan Denver area by the year 2025. LEAF’s tree planting celebration will occur adjacent to the Pepsi Center, Denver’s largest indoor sports and entertainment complex. LEAF will continue with a sustainability brown bag lunch at the Alliance Center on Thursday, April 24th

for LoDo neighbors. The main speaker, Jason Longsdorf, Senior Planner at Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), has been involved with the Union Station Redevelopment Project since 2002 and his main role has been as planner for the Denver Public Works Department. Jason has been responsible for developing the Union Station Master Plan, the Environmental Impact Statement and the 2005 Wynkoop Plaza Report.

Over the month of April, the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado will be partnering with Metro State Alumni Association and Office of Alumni Relations in the Apprentice Challenge at Metro State, where two five-student teams (The A-Team and 5280 Closers) are getting hands-on opportunities to work with successful business and nonprofit leaders on projects that impact the local community. As part of this project, the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado will collaborate with the two teams to perform eco-audits of two local restaurants, in order to determine each company’s carbon footprint. On April 25th, the eco-audit will be judged by a panel of sustainability advocates at the Alliance Center and will culminate with the LEAF finale. The LoDo Earth Action Fest will conclude with a progressive, waste-free Earth Week celebration on Friday, April 25, 2008 from 4 to 7pm. Located at the Alliance Center on Wynkoop Street, between 15

th and 16th, this family earth action fest will include fun for all ages! LEAF finale will feature live music by three local Denver bands; an array of booths by sustainable business neighbors; food by sustainable businesses; beer by wind-powered New Belgium Brewing Company; and a dynamic Family Education Center.

LEAF’s supervised Family Education Center will feature a stilt-walker, free face-painting, and a flower planting station for children of all ages. Children will have the opportunity to utilize recycled yogurt containers to plant marigold seeds, which were donated to the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado by Rocky Mountain Seed Company in 2007. In addition, children and their families will get the chance to paint a mural with local artists in celebration of Earth Week 2008. This is a family-friendly event not to be missed!

For more information on the LoDo Earth Action Fest week of fun, please contact

Kendra Sandoval at ksandoval@sustainablecolorado.org,

Emily Andrews at eandrews@sustainablecolorado.org or call (303) 572-1536.