Riverfest 2014 offers family fun plus lessons on better lawn care

YOUNGSTOWN

It’s easy to not consider the short- and long-term impacts of lawn fertilizers that many people apply in the quest for a solid-green yard free of weeds.

Ron Kichton will tell you, however, that even though such chemicals may lead to a pristine lawn, they come with a high environmental price.

“Rain washes off the excess. No matter where you are, pollution will impact somebody,” said Kichton, vice president of Friends of the Mahoning River, which hosted Saturday’s Riverfest 2014 at the B&O Station Banquet Center, 530 Mahoning Ave.

The gathering, in its third year, brought together the Mahoning Soil and Water Conservation District, Mill Creek MetroParks, the Sierra Club, the Alliance for Watershed Action & Resource Education and other environmental and conservation groups to highlight the Mahoning River. The focus also was on environmentally friendly lifestyle practices and choices.

The Riverfest also was in conjunction with the annual Artists of the Rustbelt’s Summer Market, which continues from noon to 5 p.m. today at the B&O.

Several attendees gathered around a three-dimensional river table containing wheat seed, grass, sand and a stream to watch Kichton noted that many lawn pesticides and chemicals wash into storm basins and end up in watersheds before emptying into Meander Reservoir, the Mahoning River and other large water sources.

Also on hand was Grow Youngstown’s Farm to You organization, which offered a variety of fresh produce and vegetables.

The fest’s other offerings included canoe rides on the Mahoning River, courtesy of Trumbull Canoe Trails, produce and organic seeds for sale, and face-painting, clowns and games for children.

Read more about this annual event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.