Earth Month programs celebrate seeds, pollinators, reuse and landmark trees

April 10, 2025 · 0 Comments

April is Earth Month and the Aurora Public Library has grown a full crop of activities to help sow the seeds of a greener future with kids and people of all ages.

While Earth Day itself isn’t until April 22, the fun begins with a seed germination program on Thursday, April 17, from 6.30 – 8 p.m., which will showcase the benefits of starting plants from seeds and all the tips you need to develop your green thumb.

“We kick it all off with a Seed Germination Workshop with the Lake Simcoe South Master Gardener Association,” says Polly Ross-Tyrrell, Acting Manager of Customer Opportunity for the Aurora Public Library (APL). “It’s a hands-on, practical ‘this is what actually happens when you’re germinating seeds’ workshop.”

The Earth Day celebration itself, set for April 26 is a something of a choose-your-own adventure afternoon involving textiles and upcycling beginning at 2.30 p.m., including how to transform old t-shirts into bags and “trash into treasure.”

“We’re not only going to turn t-shirts into bags, but talk about some of the other things you can do to make the stuff that you have keep working for you instead of throwing it out or passing it onto someone who may not want it,” says Ross-Tyrrell.

Up next, the Aurora-based sibling musical trio known as The Sonical Bees will take the stage in the Library’s Living Room space from 7 – 8 p.m. which will not only include a concert but education for all ages about the essential role of bees in “sustaining life, their challenges from climate change and urbanization, and ways to protect them in urban spaces.”

“The [performers] are also beekeepers, so they’re going to come in and talk about their bees and give us some bee music – they’re a ‘Library’ family and it is nice to see them blossoming,” says Ross-Tyrrell with a chuckle at the pun.

“Then we move on very appropriately to Get Growing, where we’re actually going to plant seeds. We’ll have an array of different seeds and people can choose what they want to plant, whether they want to start some veggies or some herbs. It’s going to be a lot of fun for teens and adults.”

Get Growing will take place on Saturday, May 3, at 3 p.m.

The formal Make Everyday Earth Day program winds down in June with Pollinators: Small But Mighty, a Zoom presentation “about butterflies, bees and other pollinators” on Thursday, June 12, from 6.30 – 8 p.m., in partnership with the Toronto & Region Conservation Authority, and concludes on Saturday, June 14, at 10 a.m. with A Tree Tour Through Aurora Arboretum, hosted in partnership with the Aurora Community Arboretum.

“We’re very excited about the tour,” says Ross-Tyrrell. “We had a big talk with the Arboretum about a month ago about all the things we could do with them and help them use their space and get the Library outside, get the Arboretum inside, so we’re really excited about working with them.”

Additional activities happening in and around these activities include a Spring Outdoor Series, which will activate the outdoor spaces of Aurora Town Square, a Nature Bingo at Town Park, and a children’s clothing swap where community members will be invited to bring in their kids’ clothing and swap with others.

“Get some new clothing, get rid of some old clothing, recycle in a very hands-on-and-everybody-gets-something-good-out-of-it way,” says Ross-Tyrrell.

“We hope participants realize the centrality of the Earth and things like growing, recycling, upcycling to our existence. We all need to think about all this stuff and do these things to keep our planet as healthy as we can. We are very rarely posing as experts in anything except the gathering of information. What we want to be is an introductory space, a space where you can jump in and explore something new, and maybe turn it into that thing you do for the rest of your life and love it.”

To register for these and any other upcoming APL programs, visit aurorapl.ca.

By Brock Weir