Community Day takes small steps to help turn Mullica Township green

From the Press of Atlantic City, 6/09/2010, Lee Procida, Staff Writer

This year's Mullica Township Community Day went green, mixing solar panels, energy efficient light bulbs and locally grown plants with the more usual baseball, children's games and fire truck rides.

Mother Nature returned the favor Saturday, holding the predicted thundershowers off until midafternoon.

"I got a connection upstairs," said Committeewoman Susan Polk, whose group Sustainable Mullica added the extra environmental consciousness to the event.

Tara Long, 10, of Seventh Avenue, fanned herself by the group's booth on the muggy recreational fields on Elwood Road, selling T-shirts to the crowds of people walking around.

Next to her was her mom, Tracey, the group's vice president, and her mom's friend Toni Michel, of Moss Mill Road, who oversaw a booth with used books and boxes for recycling shoes, crayons and old glue containers.

"I think there are more people here than ever," Michel said, looking out at about 40 different vendors lined up.

Hippie Bling Jewelry, Nerd Herd Creations, Bass River BBQ and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Jersey Shore were among the booths set up around the soccer field.

The event was first organized six years ago to coincide with the final games of tee-ball season on the adjacent baseball fields, Township Clerk Kimberly Johnson said as she walked across the grass in the sun.

As in previous years, the National Guard set up a rock-climbing wall, which had children scaling its sides Saturday morning.

Oscar Echevarria took a picture of his 7-year-old son Steven as he reached the top and rappelled down.

"It's a little hot," Oscar said. "It's better than rain."

At the booth next to the wall sat Ssg. Carmen Spano and Spc. John Naame, who said they keep the wall around just for events like this and others they attend throughout the region.

Alison Wutys, 9, approached and asked how she could get one of the water bottles they were giving out.

"You can do a few pushups for me," Naame replied.

Children also climbed aboard the town's various fire engines that lined the road, and sat in the Army helicopter that landed by one of the soccer nets.

New this year was Butterhof's Shady Brook Farms, which had a booth manned by Donna Butterhof, selling locally grown flowers, vegetables, honey and peach cider from their fields on the White Horse Pike.

Next to her was an Atlantic City Electric stand with information about energy conservation.

Across the field, Roseanne Lugg, of Darmstadt Avenue, Gail Brill, of Pleasant Mills Road, and Joy Ramer, of Elwood Road, gave out compact fluorescent light bulbs, courtesy of the New Jersey Clean Energy Program and Project Porchlight.

"It's not about going green overnight," said Ramer. "It's about taking these small steps."

Lugg also motioned to a somewhat-related stack of information on the table that promoted organ donation.

"It's the ultimate in recycling," she said.