The Equal Grounds Community Gardens are set to host the first annual Earth Day Community Building Festival this Saturday in Brantford.

The organization says the aim of the festival is to bring "local businesses, organizations, and clubs together in one place to allow for networking and community building."

Originally, the event was slated to act as a grand opening for a new greenhouse at the Earl Haig Community Garden, but the greenhouse has since moved locations. The group chose to move forward with the planned event to promote green initiatives and sustainability to the community and are hoping to make it an annual event.

Taylor Edwards, from Equal Grounds Community Gardens, says she's excited to see the community come together for the event and take advantage of the different opportunities that are available for both community members and businesses.

"I know that a lot of the organizations that are coming, as well as the businesses that are coming, are looking to forward meeting specific groups. So knowing that people are coming with the intention to community build and they're bring different ways to be interactive with the community, that's exactly what it's there for, so we're really happy to see the excitement".

Edwards spoke on the importance of education surrounding climate change and her hopes of having the event provide more information to the community to use and be more sustainable.

"The first step, and the most important step on a individual level, is to actually recognize that climate change is real and recognize that we have a duty to fight and combat climate change, because ultimately the higher ups are not going to listen unless the constituents are yelling," she said. "For a lot of the businesses are coming, for them it doesn't necessarily mean they're sustainable businesses, but they're going to be very candid about their sourcing and they're going to have conversations with the people who are purchasing about where they get their items and how to properly dispose of them".

The free Earth Day Community Building Festival is happening this weekend at Earl Haig Community Garden from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on April 22 and is open to all ages. Residents will have the chance to explore various local opportunities, including volunteer positions, to be introduced to new businesses, clubs, teams and local vendors, shopping opportunities, live music, and food will be featured. Admission is free.

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