Your Partners in Building a Cleaner Community.
Since 1990, the Ridge Meadows Recycling Society has been the proud host of Maple Ridge’s Celebrate Earth Day festivities. What started as a small gathering has blossomed into a signature community festival that brings together thousands of neighbors to celebrate our planet and our local environment.
Our mission is to inspire local action through joy, creativity, and connection. This isn’t just an event; it’s a day where we share the tools and knowledge needed to live a more sustainable life right here in our own backyard.
The Heart of the Celebration
We design every Earth Day festival with three main goals in mind:
- Education through Play: We believe the best way to learn about the environment is by getting your hands dirty! From our famous Tinkerbell Station to interactive displays, we make sustainability accessible for all ages.
- Local Resilience: We highlight the “Make it, Grow it, Fix it, Share it” philosophy. By supporting local food, local art, and local repair, we build a stronger, more self-reliant community.
- Social Inclusion: Our festival is a space for everyone. We prioritize accessibility and strive to ensure that all community members feel a sense of belonging as we work toward a greener future together..
Upcoming Event: Celebrate Earth Day 2026
Mark your calendars! We are hard at work planning our next big celebration.
- Date: Saturday, April 18, 2026
- Time: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
- Location: Memorial Peace Park & The Bandstand, Maple Ridge
- Theme: Roots of the Future
What to Expect:
- The Repair Café: Bring your broken items and work with our volunteer fixers to give them a second life.
- Family Free-Flow Area: A space for kids to explore Tinkerbell Station, create upcycled art, and learn about local wildlife.
- The Earth Day Market: Meet local growers, makers, and environmental groups who are making a difference in Maple Ridge.
Live Entertainment: Local musicians and performers will grace the Bandstand throughout the day.
Looking Back: A Tradition of Local Action
Every year, our community shows up in incredible ways. Here is how we’ve celebrated in recent years:
2025: Sustainability in Motion
Our 35th-anniversary event saw record attendance! We focused on green transportation and featured a special “Fix-Your-Bikeworkshop” at the Repair Café. Local students contributed to a massive Recycled Reef art installation made entirely from plastics collected at our Depot.
2024: Generations of Green
This year highlighted intergenerational learning. We paired local seniors with youth at our Tinkerbell Station to pass on repair skills and storytelling. The event coincided with the 40th Repair Café milestone, marking a decade of incredible landfill diversion.
2023: Water is Life
Focused on our local watersheds, this celebration featured a pop-up educational station about the Kanaka Creek and Alouette River systems. We also launched our first Low-Flow Toilet education booth to help neighbors learn about water conservation at home.
Earth Day Poetry & Photo Contests
Your partners in building a cleaner, more creative community.
Every year as part of our Celebrate Earth Day festivities, we invite our neighbors to step away from their screens and look at the world through a creative lens. Whether you express yourself through the click of a camera or the flow of a pen, we want to see how the beauty of our local environment inspires you!
2026 Theme: reConnect
This year, we are encouraging everyone to reach out and reConnect with the people, places, and activities that make your heart sing.
Maybe it’s a two-second pause to appreciate a sunset, a two-minute call to an old friend, or a two-hour hike through one of our beautiful local parks. Whatever brings you back to life and connects you to the earth, we want you to capture that feeling and share it with us.
Photo Contest: Capture the Moment
Show us what reConnect looks like to you! We have three age categories:
- Child (up to age 10)
- Youth (ages 11–16)
- Adult (17+)
How to Enter:
- Send your photo in .jpg format (minimum 1MB), poem, flash fiction or video to EDcontests@rmrecycling.org.
- Include your name, age (if under 17), and a brief note about your photo.
- Deadline: Midnight on Tuesday, March 31, 2026.
Public Voting: All entries will be posted on our Celebrate Earth Day Facebook page. Voting is open to the public from April 5–12, so be sure to tell your friends and family to stop by and vote for their favorites!
Poetry & Short Fiction Contest: Share Your Voice
We are looking for poems, flash fiction, or even short videos that explore our reConnect theme. Whether it’s a traditional haiku or a modern short story, your words have the power to inspire.
Categories: Kids (up to 10), Youth (11–16), and Adult (17+).
Contest Guidelines:
- Poetry: Up to 350 words.
- Short Fiction: Up to 500 words.
- Format: Please send your work as a PDF, DOC, or DOCX attachment.
- Deadline: Midnight on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 to EDcontests@rmrecycling.org.
Winners may be invited to have their work published or even read aloud during our Welcoming Ceremonies on Saturday, April 18, 2026!
Rules & Regulations:
- Who can enter: Open to all British Columbia residents.
- Entry Limit: Up to 2 entries per person.
- Originality: Works must be original and previously unpublished.
- What to include: In your email, please include your name, age, BC mailing address, and phone number.
Rights: By entering, you’re giving us permission to share your work on our website or in a future Earth Day compilation. You still own your work, but we’d love the chance to show it off to the community!
How to Get Involved: The Re-Cap
Celebrate Earth Day is truly a “by the community, for the community” event. There are so many ways to be part of the magic:
- Volunteer: We need help with everything from setup to greeting neighbors. Sign up to volunteer here!
- Exhibitors & Vendors: Are you an eco-friendly business or non-profit? We’d love to host you in the park.
- Enter the Poetry and Photo Contest: Show your creativity and highlight the theme for a chance to win!
- Sponsorship: Help us keep this event free and accessible for all.
Reach out to our Event Coordinator, Leanne Koehn, at 604-463-5545 or email leanne@rmrecycling.org to learn how you can play a part in our next celebration.