Bemidji State University is celebrating Earth Day with their annual Art Of The Earth festival.

This was the second annual event and in only two years, the festival has grown from a one-day-only event to a full weekend packed with music, art, and food. This year, there were more than 40 vendors and around 20 workshops. Organizers say one of their goals with the festival is to inspire attendees to take care of the planet.

Erica Bailey-Johnson, BSU Sustainability Director says, “We actually created a tagline this year and our tagline or our mission statement is to celebrate art, honor Mother Earth and inspire community, and it was one of those things where it took us not too long to figure out what we wanted people to gain from their experience of being here and I think that really just says it really well.”

The festival also serves the purpose of giving a public platform to local area artists. A lot of the work in the festival was created by BSU students.

Kathryn Gonzalez, Region 2 Arts Council Program Assistant, says, “It really brings in the community aspect of it so it’s really a celebration for – you can think of it as how community nourishes the Earth, the people, the art and how they all nourish each other, so it’s a complete system!”

Around 65 community members and BSU students played a role in the festival. The event will return to BSU’s next Earth Day weekend.

By — Shirelle Moore