There was no rain at Runnymede sculpture farm on Saturday, April 22, but the landscape was as green as the ideals celebrated at Woodside’s first springtime Earth & Art Day event.
The April date is the second major transition for what began as the “Environment Fest,” a casual free event held in October in the parking lot in front of Woodside Town Hall. The free noshes, educational booths, and green-themed handouts have given way to this year’s more dignified ticketed event for Woodside residents only.
Marcia BonDurant, one of the organizers, said that the need to limit the number of people at Runnymede was the reason for the residents-only restriction on this year’s low-profile event. The event was sold-out, she said.
Champions
Two “environmental champions” were honored this year, Shirley Weinman and Woodside Councilwoman Carroll Ann Hodges, along with a “Creeks Champion,” Terry Brooks Sculley.Ms. Weinman was honored for her stewardship of Woodside Road. A member of the Woodside Landscape Committee, she has been the club’s principal volunteer for its “Adopt-A-Highway” activities.
Her husband Teller calls himself a “Sunday Morning bachelor,” because Shirlee is so frequently out collecting trash, said Ms. BonDurant. In fact, Ms. Weinman missed the presentation ceremony because she was busy working at the garden club plant sale.
“She is a delight, and I’m so glad she was recognized for all the effort she’s put out all these years,” said Ms. Hodges.
Ms. Hodges was honored for her long dedication to conservation work, pursuing environmental ideals through her civic duties, as a member of environmental organizations, and in her professional life, said Ms. BonDurant.
Ms. Hodges is a retired geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, a past member of the Committee for Green Foothills and a cofounder of Woodside’s newest advisory committee, the Open Space Committee.
Besides her current service on the Town Council, Ms. Hodges has been a member of the Ad-Hoc Zoning Review Board and the Planning Commission, and is the council’s liaison to the Conservation and Environmental Health Committee.
” I felt very honored indeed to be among those recognized as trying her best to save what’s left of this environment,” Ms. Hodges said.
Ms. Sculley, the Creeks Champion, cofounded Bear Claw, a group that works with the watershed district and organizes a creek-cleanup day. She was honored, too, for defending Bear Creek from ill-advised bank modification projects by getting the property-owners to work with local environmental group Acterra and government agencies, said Ms. BonDurant. She also did a major part of the work on the one-page flier “The Creeks that Flow through Woodside,” Ms. BonDurant said.
John Kapal won the heritage tree award for a Quercus Agrifolia (Live Oak).
The honorees are chosen by subcommittees of the Conservation and Environmental Health Committee, the group that organizes Earth & Art Day.
