Central City’s Earth & Culture Day, an event hosted by RenewAll and Coalfield Development on April 19, aimed to celebrate local and regional artists, organizations and community initiatives.
“Every day is Earth Day,” said Denise Poole, the social enterprise hub manager at RenewAll. “We need to be caretakers of the planet, and what we are doing, you know, burning through our natural resources, whether it be coal, wood, what have you, and chemicals and stuff, is not the best plan.”
Poole said events like Central City’s Earth & Culture Day are important because they not only help teach community members about protecting the environment, but also help connect the community.
“I would always encourage people to do more of that and get to know your community and who’s doing what, and I think that’s important to kind of have everybody together, and the people that are set up here, it gives them a sense of community, too,” Poole said.
Lauren Kemp, the executive director of RenewAll, said events like these are also important in supporting local communities.
“What we want this day to represent is shopping local; doing things that are simple but that small acts lead to big changes in the world, and so that’s what we want to encourage people to do even if it’s just flipping the light switch when you’re not in the room,” Kemp said.
The event featured many talented performers throughout the day, including Kiamo Anagi, Annie Wolf, Morning Tea Party and Garden. It also featured vendors like Tarafate Nursery, Phoenix Pharmacy, Granny Witch Ways, Heart Vibes and local artists, such as Robbie Poor, Patty Stewart and Katherine Thompson.
“We’ve had several artists and several different types of music being represented today. We’ve also had the Marshall Contemporary Dance Group come and do not only a performance, but a little bit of a free movement. Just a dance session with people from the audience. That was really popular,” Kemp said.
Poole said that compared to previous years, the turnout for Central City’s Earth & Culture Day 2025 was lighter than they had hoped due to outside factors.
“It was a respectable crowd. But like I said, last year we had many, many more people. Honestly, I think one of the big things is there’s a rally downtown with people that have concerns about what’s happening with our government and our lives right now,” Poole said.
Despite the lower turnout, Kemp said the event still saw a steady flow of people.
“I think the turnout’s been nice, like it’s been a very steady day of people and a good mix of people that we see in Central City before, and people have never been down,” Kemp said.
Luke Campbell can be contacted at [email protected].
