Croton’s Earth Day celebration is getting a logistical makeover. At their January 13 meeting, the Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) agreed to hand off the heavy lifting of running the annual festival to the village’s Recreation Department, a move designed to let the volunteer committee focus on its core environmental mission.
Set for Saturday, May 2 at Vassallo Park (with a rain date of May 9), the event will still bear the CAC’s fingerprints. While the village will handle vendor logistics, promotion, and bulk-buying compostable plates and utensils, the CAC will retain the power to curate the vendor list to ensure it aligns with Earth Day goals. The committee will also continue organizing its signature nature activities, like guided bird walks and bike rides.
To formalize the transition, the CAC will write up a comprehensive "how-to" guide for the Rec Department. Members also noted they will schedule volunteers to stand by waste bins to help attendees properly sort trash, compost, and recycling.
In other business, the council took its first formal steps toward regulating light pollution. Council member Jason Mencher shared dark sky codes from the towns of Yorktown and Cortlandt as reference materials, noting there is currently no county-level guidance on the issue. The committee will spend the next several months drafting a local proposal, with early discussions focusing on how to regulate light by actual emissions rather than by specific fixture types, such as rope lights, as well as potential time-of-day restrictions.
Residents looking to reduce waste can mark their calendars for the winter Repair Cafe on February 28 at the Croton Free Library. The event currently has 10 fix-it coaches signed up, but organizers are actively looking for volunteers with sewing and bicycle repair skills. Those interested in a two-hour shift can sign up through the CAC.
On the infrastructure front, an updated village trail map is essentially finished and has been shared with the team working on the village's Natural Resources Inventory (NRI). The NRI team will hold its next public meeting on March 11. Volunteer trail maintenance days are slated to kick off in late March once the weather warms up.