5 things to do in the Illinois Valley: Earth Day events planned

1. Guardians of the Garden in Spring Valley: The Earth Day event will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, at the Hall High School Conservation Garden, 800 W. Erie St. Activities for all ages will include learning about native plants and their pollinators, becoming an environmental steward and learning about opportunities to join local 4-H programs, including becoming a master gardener or master naturalist. Participants will have the opportunity to try their hand at creating a painted pot and transplanting a pollinator plant to take home to monitor pollinator visits in their own backyard. Prizes will be available in three categories for an endangered pollinator species chalk drawing contest. Other activities will include exploring insect and flower parts under the microscope and learning facts about pollinators through a presentation as well as games of pollinator “Jeopardy!” Contact Bettyann at 309-364-2356 or bettyann@illinois.edu for more information.

2. Barefoot in the Park at Stage 212: Set in an overpriced New York City walk-up with bad plumbing (bad everything, really), the laughs get louder when Corie decides to play matchmaker between her visiting mother and the cultured, eccentric neighbor-in-the-attic Victor Velasco. The show begins its two weekend run 7:30 p.m. Friday, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, and three more shows April 28-30 at Stage 212, 700 First St., La Salle. Tickets are on sale and may be purchased by visiting the box office from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday or by calling 815-224-3025 during the same hours. Tickets also can be purchased online by visiting stage212.org.

3. SciFest at Illinois Valley Community College: CHEM/STEM Club presents its popular annual SciFest for children and adults from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday in the gymnasium. The evening will include lunar moon samples collected by NASA on multiple space missions and demonstrations involving an inflatable planetarium, imploding barrel, fluidized sand bed, augmented reality sandbox, flame sound tube, bed of nails and more. For information, contact Matthew Johll at 815-224-0468 or matthew_johll@ivcc.edu

4. Town and Country Youth Art Show: The Town and Country Youth Art Show is scheduled noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at NCI ARTworks Gallery in the historic Westclox Building, 408 Fifth St., Peru. The annual Town and Country Youth Art Show showcases artwork from middle and high school-aged students from La Salle, Bureau and Putnam counties. The work of more than 60 students from the three counties will be on exhibit.

5. Perfectly Flawed Foundation’s Earth Day cleanup: The seventh annual event is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with check-in at the Illinois and Michigan Canal Lock 14 shelter in La Salle. Perfectly Flawed will provide some suggested areas to clean up and snacks. Partnering organizations will be set up to provide information. Garbage bags will be provided. Take a picture of yourself or your family doing something to help your community. Whether it’s cleaning up trash, beautifying your yard, planting a garden or helping others in need in, post those pictures to Instagram or Facebook from now until Saturday, using the hashtag #perfectlyflawedearthday for a chance to win some giveaways. For more information, go to facebook.com/theperfectlyflawedfoundation.

Would you like your event featured in this weekly feature? The first step is submitting your events to The Times, NewsTribune or Bureau County Republican’s community calendar at starvedrockcountry.com/local-events/ where they are then considered for inclusion in this feature.