Several City of Knoxville departments will be on hand this Saturday, April 20th, for EarthFest, Knoxville's Earth Day celebration. EarthFest 2013 will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Pellissippi State Community College's Hardin Valley campus. As always, EarthFest is a free, zero-waste event with educational exhibits, kids' activities, food and entertainment for the whole family, including pets.

The City's Solid Waste and Community Development departments will be offering information on recycling and community improvement initiatives. Also represented will be the City Tree Board and Office of Sustainability, along with the upcoming City-sponsored Centennial Conservation Expo.

During a zero-waste event, exhibitors and food vendors control the types of materials they sell or distribute in order to minimize waste. Food is served on reusable Frisbees, water stations are available to refill bottles and there are no trash cans on-site. EarthFest organizers provide recycling and composting opportunities for everything distributed at the event. For the past three years, the total trash collected during the daylong event averaged less than 10 pounds.

Each year EarthFest has a theme, and this year's is "Rooted in Sustainability." The idea is to showcase green technologies used today that are based on older practices. "Rooted in Sustainability" demonstrations will include blacksmithing, weaving, worm composting, green parenting and food preservation.

Along with more than a hundred exhibitors and attractions, attendees will also have the opportunity to take part in an EarthFest educational scavenger hunt. Participants will get their scavenger hunt player's card stamped as they answer questions at select vendor booths around the festival. Once completed, participants will be entered to win a grand prize and other giveaways going on every hour.

Other on-site events at EarthFest will include: a plastic bag exchange, disc golf course, Medic blood drive, fuel-efficient car showcase, mercury thermometer exchange, meet-and-greet "envirocharacter" exhibit and a youth learning area. In the youth area there will be lots of free, interactive activities for kids to learn about going green. These will include making totes out of re-purposed T-shirts, creating planters out of newspaper, decorating pet rocks and crafting clothespin magnets.

For more information on EarthFest 2013, including a detailed list of sponsors, on-site events, theme demonstrations and scavenger hunt prizes, visit www.knox-earthfest.org.