BUFFALO, N.Y. — Earth Day was Monday, and to celebrate, Tifft Nature Preserve is hosting a special event this Saturday to give some love to local eco-minded businesses.
2 On Your Side visited Tifft on Thursday to get a preview, and it was our Most Buffalo Story of the Day.
"Our first ever Earth Day Market here at Tifft is on Saturday, April 27th. It goes from 11 to 3 p.m., and it's free to the public," explained Christi Ericksen, the Tifft Nature Preserve program coordinator.
To honor Earth Day, Tifft Nature Preserve is highlighting local businesses that support sustainability.
"We have vendors coming, local vendors, small businesses from the area, and we also have crafts for kids to make that are made from stuff that we've reused and recycled ourselves here," Ericksen said.
Some of the vendors will be bringing some special animal friends, such as Hawk Creek Wildlife Center.
"They are bringing some live animals with them, so they are going to be very exciting to see there because they are bringing a live component. We are also going to have goats here," Ericksen said.
"Let's Goat Buffalo originally started as, you know, a business that was an option for landscaping in a way that's more natural, maybe not using harsh chemicals and things like that, so they, you know, bring goats in. Sometimes it's for invasive species removal and things like that, but they are bringing goats to show that that's an option for some local landscaping options here in Buffalo."
So you can hang out with the goats, and while you're at Tifft, you and your family can also check out the entire preserve.
"We'll also have a scavenger hunt that will take the kids out on the trails and families out on trails for the day. It's going to hopefully be a beautiful day, but that's an option to get them out on the trails, as well," Ericksen said. "It is going to get them to look for birds. It is springtime when birds are active.
"They're out and about and so looking for birds, especially on a nicer, warmer day, things like frogs and turtles that are out in the marsh area, so them going through different habitats, so going through the forest habitat, then a marsh wetland habitat, and seeing that transition between those two is really interesting, as well, and it kind of makes a cool connection that there's more than one habitat out there."
The hope is to get people to just start thinking about how they can help the environment.
"It is daunting sometimes to think about all the things that you should be doing, or could be doing differently, and supporting a local small business is a great small step to do that and just being here to support them and, you know, learning that maybe you could make crafts for your kids out of things that are just egg cartons from home or, you know, like little K-Cups from home, like that's just something that, a small takeaway that maybe you can build upon later, and research more options, but there are such small things that you could do that build on each other every day to kind of support that Earth Day every day kind of mentality," Ericksen said.
They're also doing low sensory hikes at Tifft. The first one is Thursday night. It is fully booked, but be on the lookout for another one in the future.
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