Visit Annapolis & Anne Arundel County (VAAAC), the City of Annapolis and local environmental group, Annapolis Green, teamed up to kick off National Travel and Tourism Week on May 5th with a host of activities designed to promote enhanced environment stewardship throughout Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.
In keeping with this year’s theme, “Travel Then and Now,” VAAAC, the City of Annapolis and Annapolis Green are focusing on remembering the “then” of the Chesapeake Bay that explorer John Smith experienced in 1608, and they’re working to ensure that the “now” and future course of the Chesapeake Bay is a return to the pristine ecological treasure Smith praised in his journal with the words, “Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation.”
The day began with 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. #CleanYOURblock efforts as part of Keep America Beautiful’s nationwide “Great American Cleanup.” Volunteers reported to four designated areas of the City for the cleanups. In addition, all interested individuals were invited to spearhead simultaneous efforts in their own neighborhoods.
Following the cleanups, the celebration continued with an open house and refreshments at the 26 West Street Visitors Center from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Festivities included the dedication of a recently installed Elkay permanent water refill station that’s designed to reduce the use of single-use plastic bottles. Annapolis Green Co-founder Lynne Forsman used the occasion to officially announce her organization’s launch of a “Refill Revolution” designed to educate consumers to the ease, convenience and environmental friendliness of using refillable cups and containers.
The highlight of the day was Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley’s dedication of an 8’ high Blue Heron sculpture soon to be permanently installed behind the Visitors Center. The custom designed, handcrafted metal sculpture depicts an 8’ long Blue Heron with an 8.5’ wing span. Created by Jim Swaim of the North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Company, Environmental Sculptures, the Blue Heron is designed to be filled with picked-up trash – as a way of encouraging passersby to pick up after themselves. Debris from the morning cleanups was the first trash inserted into the sculpture. Swaim told the crowd his creation is designed to disturb people. He wants individuals to realize that litter and unrecycled trash ends up in our waterways and in the bodies of our marine life. Swaim has created a similar sculpture – a Blue Crab – that resides at the Annapolis Maritime Museum’s McNasby campus in Eastport. Another one of his creations – a Sea Turtle – debuted at the Sixth Annual International Marine Debris Conference in San Diego in March. It’s now on permanent display at the Living Coast Discovery Center in San Diego.
