Sonoma to host first Earth Day at Community Center’s Trash Bash event

The 2024 Janet Nusbaum “Best Use of Recycled Materials” Award went to “Leda’s Revenge,” designed and modeled by Inika Wood. Winners were announced at the annual Trash Bash Wrap Party on April 12, 2024. Robbi Pengelly – Sonoma Index-Tribune

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By Ruchi Shahagadkar

rshahagadkar@sonomanews.com

The City of Sonoma will host its inaugural Earth Day event at the Sonoma Community Center’s annual “Trash Bash” celebration on April 25 at 276 East Napa Street.

This year’s celebration — which will run from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. — will feature the City’s first Earth Day event. Attendees can connect with Sonoma County waste management organizations, explore booths from local sustainability-focused organizations and businesses, and shop with upcycling artists who are reimagining materials that might otherwise go to waste. Sustainable food and beverage vendors will also be part of the celebration.

The event will celebrate the culmination of the annual Trashion Fashion season, featuring the Trashion Runway Show designs and the designers behind them, seeing how reclaimed materials are transformed into imaginative works of wearable art.

“Partnering with the Sonoma Community Center to add an Earth Day component to the already beloved Trash Bash gives us a chance to highlight those efforts and bring people together around climate action and sustainability in our community,” said Sonoma Mayor Ron Wellander in a press release.

“What I love about Sonoma is how many people in this community are already doing meaningful work around sustainability,” he added.

Featured will be a series of talks focused on indoor air quality and energy use in buildings to implementation strategies, community momentum, and how climate solutions take hold locally between 12-2 p.m. This year’s speaker list includes Go Green Initiative’s Lauren Londoño, Balanced Approach’s Shea Cunningham, CODE GREEN Media’s Betsy Rosenberg and Tim Goncharoff.

“Trash Bash and Earth Day both celebrate the power of creativity and collective action. By highlighting the intersection of art and sustainability, we hope to inspire people to see ‘trash’ differently and discover meaningful ways we can all work together to care for our planet,” said Executive Director of the Sonoma Community Center, Vanessa Glamore Rognlien.

The City of Sonoma’s inaugural Earth Day grew out of efforts by the City’s Climate Action Commission, whose members encouraged the City to explore ways to create a community Earth Day event focused on climate action and sustainability.

The event is free to attend and will also announce winners of the Green Business of the Year Award, the Earth Day Photography Contest, and the 2026 Trashion Fashion Runway Show. More details will be posted on the City’s website, SonomaCity.org and the Community Center’s website, SonomaCommunityCenter.org.