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North Haven Conservation Commission celebrates Earth Day

The North Haven High School gymnasium was filled with tables, posters, and other presenters on April 6 to bring Earth Day to town a few weeks early. The event was sponsored by the North Haven Conservation Commission, which spends a large part of its year planning the event

“It’s a great family friendly activity, great for the kids,” said commissioner Sue Dannenhoffer, who helped organize the event.

In addition to activities like face painting and visiting the cookie truck, the tables had a question for the kids to ask. Completing the scavenger hunt gave the kids a chance to win a prize.

For instance, the Peter’s Rock Association, which runs Peter’s Rock Park off of Route 17, asked kids, “In the early 1800s, what was the name of the ‘rude highway’ on the eastern side of Peter’s Rock?”

Armed with the answer, kids could mark it off on their sheets and be one step closer to the prize.

Those interested in hearing the answer should consider visiting Peter’s Rock, and that is the hope of Peter’s Rock board member Theresa Marino.

“We’re trying to get more people to come and use the park,” she said.

Currently, a lot of dog walkers and families use the park, but board members hope that more people will come and take advantage of the expanding trail system.

Marino said that in the 10 years since the park has been open, the association has installed a new pavilion, boardwalks, and bridges to facilitate hikes. The association also built a commemorative reduced-scale replica of The Hermitage, an elegant hunting lodge built in 1901 by a group of wealthy New Haven businessmen, that used to stand at the summit of Peter’s Rock.

Other organizations, including both of the garden clubs in town and the town’s public works department, joined other organizations from across Connecticut including the Meigs Point Nature center at Hammonasset Beach State Park, which brought a variety of live reptiles and animal skins for kids to identify.

For a large part of the day, A Place Called Hope, an avian wildlife refuge from Killingworth that focuses on rescuing raptors, displayed some of their animals.

Local solar power companies came to offer information and advice on setting up solar panels on homes.

“There are a lot of myths behind” solar, said Terry Crocker, a solar professional. “I wanted less to sell solar panels than to give out good information.”