Environmental awareness and education are not just for students.

Oak Park Earthfest 2011 is open to the entire community and will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sat., April 16 on the lawn of Oak Park High School. The program was organized by the Oak Park Unified School District’s Environmental Education and Awareness Committee.

The program will give community members a chance to discover how they can improve the environment or at least tread more lightly on the Earth, event chair Keyla Treitman said.

Treitman said the event this year will show families how to make a difference in the environment by changing a few habits, including recycling and water conservation.

Several information booths have been planned. The Wings of Discovery live bird exhibit is expected to be a crowd pleaser, and the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute have planned a game for family participation.

The Oak Park Community Gardeners will provide a seed-planting activity and information about foods that have not been genetically modified.

Oak Park High School and Medea Creek Middle School students will present projects from the district’s science enrichment series. This year students worked on the Idea to Impact program developed by district science specialist Debby West.

A middle school student will present a demonstration about the benefits of composting with worms, Treitman said. The Oak Park High School Environmental Club will run a game booth, and other students will host a create-amask program for children of all ages. The masks will be made out of recycled products.

Other demonstrations will be conducted by the Oak Park Landscape group, Triunfo Sanitation District and others.

Treitman said vendors will sell products in keeping with the environmental theme. One plans to sell reusable fabric lunch bags while another will promote ecofriendly cleaning and personal care products.

The committee has requested that a percentage of profits made by groups selling products be donated to the school, but Treitman said the donations would be “completely voluntary.”

The Oak Park Farmers Market will be in full swing at the event, and one vendor will sell organic pizza.

“As a school district we feel that it is our responsibility to educate all of our students on how to become environmental stewards who strive to sustain our natural resources and our environment for future generations,” Treitman said. “We’ve created a different, fun, familyoriented event to do that.”

For more information, e-mail Treitman at ktreitman@sbcglobal.net.