The Healthy Cedar Valley Coalition and community partners will present "A Practical Backyard Tour" of Waterloo and Cedar Falls on Saturday, June 19 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.!
Organizations and homeowners will be opening up their green spaces and backyards to share various sustainable and Earth-friendly practices. Visit six creative, sustainable backyards and green spaces at your own pace and in any order. Tour locations will highlight topics such as rain gardens, solar panels, pollinator gardens, seed saving, raised beds, composting, vegetable production, pesticide-free lawns, edible garden weeds, bird-friendly conservation, rain barrels, swift towers, and beekeeping. Included in the tour will be three homeowners, along with Orange Elementary, North Cedar Natural Resource Project, and the Cedar Falls Seed Library/Garden Tool Lending Library.
This public educational event will take place rain or shine. It is FREE to the public, however, a $3.00 donation to the Healthy Cedar Valley Coalition is suggested and greatly appreciated.
Before the tours, participants should print a backyard tour brochure from the "Healthy Cedar Valley Coalition" Facebook page (https://fb.me/e/gTk5pfVUm) or visit https://www.healthycedarvalleycoalition.org/sustain.html.
The tour brochure https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.104/afb.467.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-HCVC-Backyard-Tour-brochure-med-res.pdf includes event details, tour addresses, map of locations, site descriptions, and the list of door prizes.
On the day of the event, start at a location of your choice and sign your participation waiver for the day. Receive one prize drawing ticket at each site that you visit, then enter your tickets into the prize drawing jars at each location (or jars at your last stop of the day). This drawing will feature a 55-gallon Systern rain barrel, a $50 gift certificate from Wapsie Pines, a rain garden plant package, and DIY Energy and Water Eco Pack (Energy Saver Kit, umbrella clothesline, and rain barrel converter kit). Join the HCVC for a Facebook LIVE event at 3:00 pm on June 21 as door prize winners are announced.
Although pre-registration is not required, participants can be entered into a special Facebook drawing. To be entered, log into Facebook by 3:00 p.m. on June 17 and click "Going" or "Interested" on the Healthy Cedar Valley Coalition's Facebook event: "A Practical Backyard Tour." A special thank you to SingleSpeed Brewing for their donation of a $20 gift certificate for this drawing.
The Healthy Cedar Valley Coalition is a large group of community organizations and individuals that have come together to improve the health of our community through outreach and education. "A Practical Backyard Tour" is sponsored by the Healthy Cedar Valley Coalition’s Sustainability Theme Group in partnership with Black Hawk County Master Gardeners, Dry Run Creek Watershed Improvement Project, Green Iowa AmeriCorps, North Cedar Neighborhood Association, Prairie Rapids Audubon Society, Cedar Falls Seed Library, City of Waterloo, City of Cedar Falls, Good Neighbor Iowa, Waste Trac Education Team, Black Hawk County Conservation, Wapsie Pines Lawn Care and Landscaping and SingleSpeed Brewing.
For questions or more information, please contact the Waste Trac Education Team at 319-266-8722. (Waste Trac Education Team is a co-sponsor of the backyard tour and affiliate of the Healthy Cedar Valley Coalition).