Earth Day event draws 4,000 Lewiston-Auburn residents
More than 4,000 barbeque meals — a new record — and 6,400 gladiolus and lily bulbs were distributed to all comers Thursday as ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ invited its Lewiston and Auburn neighbors to its annual Earth Day celebration.
The event, called “Affirming Our Community,” was held from 4:30 to 8 p.m. inside and on the lawn outside of the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building on Central Avenue.
The gathering featured a free barbecue and the distribution of bulbs — 410 bags were filled with 12 gladiolus bulbs and another 500 bags filled with 3 lily bulbs — for spring planting on a first-come, first-served basis. Scrod Pudding, a popular Maine contradance band, performed.
Laura Biscoe, director of the Office of Special Projects and Summer Programs at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, said the event is a way for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ to express its gratitude to the Twin Cities and its concern for the environment.
Prior to the event, Biscoe’s office worked with ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students in the Longley School Mentoring Program. After-school pupils at Lewiston’s Gov. James B. Longley Elementary School packed the bulbs in bags with planting instructions and markers for the blossom colors.
