FREEPORT — Despite chilly temperatures and rainy morning weather, Girl Scouts of Maine (GSME) successfully hosted more than 800 participants at their annual Green ME Up Earth Day Festival on Saturday, April 20 on the L.L. Bean Flagship Store Campus in Freeport.

The highly anticipated public event drew family crowds from across the state, eager to engage in hands-on environmentally friendly booth activities presented by 25 diverse organizations and businesses, all focused on exploring sustainability. One presenter tallied over 150 visitors to their booth just one hour into the event!

“I visited Green ME Up for the second year with my daughter, and we loved that there were so many new exhibits from those that we saw last year! One of our favorites was celebrating Smokey the Bear’s 80th birthday; the forest ranger at the fire safety station was so informative and great with the girls,” says Christina Towers, Girl Scout troop leader in South Berwick.

Thanks to dozens of participating businesses such as WormMainea, SAPPI, and Day’s Jewelers, participants got to engage in exciting environmental presentations like recycling games, papermaking, arts and crafts, fire safety, solar powered toys, seedling planting—even getting the chance to hold sea creatures and worms! After working up quite the appetite from all their learning, attendees warmed up by portable firepits for a classic s’more courtesy of L.L. Bean before grabbing a bite from local food trucks.

Keeping up the annual tradition of impressive music, this year’s Green ME Up festival was no exception. The event featured musical performances from Blue Hill-based steel drum band, Planet Pan, and Junk2Funk, an interactive musical group that encourages kids to use recycled materials as instruments.

“Rain does not stop Mainers from having an amazing time exploring sustainability as citizen scientists and stewards for our planet. Attendees traveled from as far as Fort Kent, ME and Rochester, NH to learn from different organizations and businesses about native and invasive species, environmentally friendly technology, consumerism, and how our simple every day acts can make a huge impact on our plant,” Kirstin Powell, GSME Program Specialist.

Want to hear about how this year’s festival went? Check out some of our updated photos and attendee testimonials from the 2024 Green ME Up on our @girlscoutsofmaine Facebook page and visit www.girlscoutsofmaine.org/greenmeup to see photos from 2023.

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