It's Earth Day in the Upstate: Residents celebrate conservation, education and business

It’s Earth Day, a time to celebrate our planet and recognize efforts to protect it.

Across the Upstate, nature lovers spent the weekend outside in the sun in anticipation of Earth Day this Monday. People from counties across the region organized plant sales and swaps, educational events, festivals and a myriad of litter sweeps, all with the goal of helping those around them connect with the earth.

Spartanburg Area Conservancy kicked festivities off by hosting families and vendors at Glendale Shoals Preserve to commemorate their 35th anniversary at the SPACE Birthday Earth Day Bash on Saturday morning. While the nonprofit organization has existed since 1989, this year marked their inaugural Earth Day festival.

The organization, commonly known as SPACE, is a conservation group dedicated to preserving and protecting natural spaces. Currently, they are working to permanently preserve nearly 1,000 undeveloped acres next to Glendale Shoals Preserve as a public green space and park for residents. Last week, Spartanburg County Council approved $2 million in funding for the $25 million project.

Groups like the Watershed Ecology Center and Spartanburg Science Center provided learning opportunities and hands-on activities. At other tents, vendors like Carolina Bamboo sold handmade, natural and recycled items to attendees. The Spartanburg Creative Art Reuse Project (SCRAP) gave kids the opportunity to make their own necklaces from painted Styrofoam and cardboard.

More: SPACE has sights on Glendale property for county park; land acquisition, funding in progress

Jessie Stevens, a teacher from Boiling Springs, couldn’t wait to bring her daughters Georgia Kate, 6, and Maggie, 5, to the SPACE event. Stevens has been taking Georgia Kate to the preserve since she was a newborn. She said she loves the impact SPACE has on the Spartanburg community, especially when it comes to helping kids understand why conservation matters.

"Their local efforts at conservation and just environmental awareness are spectacular. Their events are always very child friendly," Stevens said. "They work really hard in the community to involve children in our partnership of this earth. I know whenever I bring the girls to something, there are going to be good activities and fun things we're going to do, but they’re also going to learn more and more about how to take care of our Earth."

A few hundred feet away, Liam Judice, age 6, explored the preserve’s famous waterfall and wove through a bamboo grove. His mom, Cathryn Judice, said Liam is obsessed with the waterfall at Glendale Shoals.

"This year, it was really cute – they learned about the life cycle of plants at school and all three of my boys have been asking to build a garden," Judice said.

She and her husband Mike said they love to bring their sons to SPACE events. Judice, a Spartanburg native, has also been coming to the preserve since she was a kid.

"It really helps me, and I feel like for all my boys, it just helps them decompress and become human again," she said.

Deb Stevens, SPACE’s Membership and Outreach Director, said that’s exactly what they hoped the event would encourage. Stevens said the group frequently works with students who haven’t had much experience outside, but their perspectives shift quickly after just a short time in nature.

"You can just see the transformation. Now they've had a positive experience in an outdoor space, and they want to come back. We’re just trying to create good opportunities outside," she said.

More: Spartanburg County Council approves funding for SPACE Glendale park project

The conservation of green space, or natural areas filled with plants, rocks or water are especially important in the Upstate amidst exponential growth, Stevens said. According to census data, Spartanburg was the eighth-fastest growing city in the U.S. in 2023.

“One thing that makes Spartanburg wonderful and makes people want to live here is our high quality of life. I think your quality of life is directly tied to having green space integrated into your community,” said SPACE Executive Director Sam Parrott.

Greenville festival invites local businesses to share eco-friendly goods

Meanwhile, about 40 miles south in Greenville, Make GVL Greener hosted its third Earth Day celebration on Saturday. About 70 volunteers met in the morning at Pangaea Brewing to clean up litter along the Swamp Rabbit Trail. After the litter clean-up, local small businesses lined the field in Unity Park.

Weiwei Huang is the owner of Knotty Pawz, a company that sells dog toys made from recycled cotton rope.

Huang, who has lived in Greenville for seven years with her husband, is originally from China. Initially, she wanted to find better toys for her dog, Xena. When Xena would play with firmer toys, she would hurt her gums, but plush toys were too fragile.

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Huang has a master’s degree in business administration and her family has more than 100 years of history working with recycled textiles. She decided to combine her areas of expertise and create bright toys with her loved ones that pets can safely play with. By 2027, she hopes her business becomes a leading eco-friendly pet brand.

"Millions of plush toys end up in a landfill and cannot be absorbed by the earth," Huang said. "If you dig into more research about the environment, you can feel the emergency for us. We need to focus on sustainable products for people and also for the planet."

Huang gave out free rope toys to dogs passing by in the park during Saturday’s event.

The mood in the park was joyful and celebratory. Make GVL Greener Founder and Executive Director Sheryl Guarniero said that was intentional.

Guarniero has spent two decades working on environmental issues and said she understands that it can be overwhelming and intense for people to grasp.

"It stresses people out. It gives them anxiety," she said. "But there are ways to do good, to make it fun. So that was my thought. It was ‘Why aren’t we celebrating? Celebrating Greenville, celebrating the planet?’"

Guarniero organized Make GVL Greener’s first Earth Day as a litter sweep, but this year she wanted to do more.

Guarniero intentionally organized the event to feel similar to a farmer’s market. She wanted to support small businesses, particularly those who are passionate about the environment. Guarniero hosts workshops through Make GVL Greener. She said the workshops give people a space to talk about both the good and the bad of trying to live environmentally friendly lifestyles.

"Everybody kind of feels like they're on an island and they're the only ones, it's really hard and you feel alone, which makes it even harder,” she said. “The more I've talked to people and become this table for people to come sit at, the more we've learned how many more there are out there and that it isn't an island anymore."

Guarniero said she plans for the festival to continue getting bigger. Additionally, she’s got a multitude of projects planned for her organization.

"It's literally in the name. Why isn’t Greenville the greenest city in the U.S.?" she said. "Lead by example."

Summer Fun: Upstate residents can get free state park entry through their local library. Here's how.

Kids learn how to protect the earth in Anderson

Kids also had the opportunity to learn about conservation and earth stewardship at the Anderson County Library on Saturday morning. At the "Planet Protectors: Celebrating our Earth" event, local environmental educators spoke to kids about the world around them.

Some of the event’s partners included the Clemson Co-operative Extension, Anderson Soil and Water Conservation District, SC Native Plant Society and Rocky River Nature Park, among others. Kids could attend a themed story time, make a craft, see a beehive and visit several educational tables.

"Earth Day at the Library is always one of our favorite events. It brings many of our friends in the environmental education community together with the families we serve at the library to celebrate and learn more about the amazing but fragile world we live in," said Anderson County Library Head of Youth Services Diane Smiley.

Looking for an event near you? Check out the Earth Day Event Map.

Sarah Swetlik covers climate change and environmental issues in South Carolina's Upstate for The Greenville News. Reach her at sswetlik@gannett.com or on X at @sarahgswetlik.

Have a question for Sustainability with Sarah? Ask here or email sswetlik@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: It's Earth Day in the Upstate: Green space, business take center stage