COEUR d’ALENE — Clear skies, blooming trees and Tubbs Hill standing in the distance were testaments to the beauty of Coeur d’Alene — and reminders of why the environment is worth protecting.

Hundreds of people of all ages gathered Saturday at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library for an Earth Day celebration. The theme for 2024, Earth Day’s 54th anniversary, is “planet vs. plastics” and emphasizes the risk plastics pose to human and planetary health.

Char Beach, outreach services specialist for the Coeur d’Alene Public Library, helped organize the local event. She said it’s only natural for a library to do so.

“Libraries are leaders in a lot of areas,” she said. “We need to go the extra mile to the right thing, even when it’s not convenient.”

That can mean something as small as providing recycling bins for the public to use when they visit the library and as big as Saturday’s Earth Day celebration. The event brought together many groups, from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to the Friends of Tubbs Hill and Coeur d’Green Compost, to share with the community what they’re doing to protect the environment and how others can do their part.

“I’m really happy and encouraged that so many people have come out today,” Beach said. “I hope they take away at least one thought of what they can do to preserve the environment.”

In a shady spot behind the library, people crowded around a stream table, where flowing water cut through white sand like a river. Among them were Judah Florey, 8, and her brother Ezekiel Florey, 6, who closely watched how pieces of wood changed the river’s flow.

“We’re here to get outside and see the sun,” their mom, Michelle Florey, said with a smile.

Jim Ekins, water educator for the University of Idaho Extension, uses the stream table to show how a river flows, as well as the impact of vegetation and woody debris like logs.

“Streamside vegetation is the most important thing to protecting your waterways,” he said. “We’ve often not managed our water resources with that in mind.”

The stream table is a reliable “kid magnet,” Ekins said. But adults also looked on with interest as he dug a small hole in the sand and put in a few drops of dark green food coloring, to simulate how pollution from the ground can enter water systems.

A boy gasped when he noticed the green dye emerge into the water and flow downstream. That lightbulb moment is exactly what the stream table is meant to facilitate.

“It’s an investigative, hands-on learning experience,” Ekins said.

While community members perused informational booths, James Schmehl led Sorensen Magnet School students in two drum performances. The students played a mixture of West African rhythms and unison drum parts.

Schmehl said drumming helps the students build confidence and experiment with new things.

“It gives them the ability to make mistakes and grow,” he said.

   Judah Florey, 8, and Ezekiel Florey, 6, inspect a stream table.