Earth Day celebration, egg scramble

After a rainout last weekend, the sun was shining as community members flocked to Payson Park for the city’s annual “Egg Scramble” egg hunt and Earth Day celebration on Saturday.

Festivities kicked off at the sound of a megaphone siren at 10:30 a.m. when a stampede of children rushed to gather a bagful of the roughly 7,000 plastic eggs spread across the soccer field by Ocean Avenue.

Meanwhile, the fields bordering Baxter Boulevard had plenty on hand to celebrate Earth Day, which is this Tuesday, including gardening, e-bike and electric lawn equipment demos, clothing swaps, recycling trucks and more.

“We have a whole bunch of people that came out today from anywhere from energy efficiency to environmental stewardship,” said Karly Meyer, a sustainability associate for Portland’s Sustainability Office, who helped organize the event. “Anyone who is remotely related to the sustainability field is here today.”

Organizations and businesses providing activities and information included the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, Garbage to Garden, Cultivating Community, Tandem Mobility, ecoMaine, the Portland Public Library and Portland Trails.

“It’s super important to just be aware of what all these amazing organizations are doing because not everyone is aware of some of these great groups,” Meyer said.

Maya Annamalai, 3, hugs the Easter Bunny after the Egg Scramble held at Payson Park in Portland on Saturday. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

It’s an opportunity to celebrate our planet while simultaneously educating on how to be good stewards of it and highlighting the work Mainers are doing to address climate change.

“I feel like a lot of times, when we think about climate change, it can be really easy to get down and feel despair and upset about it — and rightfully so,” Meyer said. “But, I think it’s also great to come together and celebrate and be kind of hopeful about all the work people are doing.”

A number of food and beverage trucks were there to keep attendees nourished, but a Girl Scout cookie table had the longest line.

Despite the event having been postponed because of last weekend’s weather, Meyer said most of the vendors were able to make Saturday’s rain date — and they got a beautiful, 70-plus degree day in return.

“We got really lucky, and only a couple of people had to cancel with the rain date,” Meyer said. “The weather is much better today, so it all worked out.”

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