Over the weekend, the sun rose perfect in the Saturday morning sky, in what eventually proved to be the most beautiful weather day of the year so far in the Tri-State area. This worked out perfect for the Mississippi River Earth Day Fair that went on at the Keokuk Riverfront (Victory Park) in Keokuk.
This free event took place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and had the most wonderful vibe the entire time. There was just a certain buzz about the event that made people there feel good.
The beautiful Mississippi River looked stunning and had the most perfect breeze coming off of it all day; the sun was out; there was yoga presentations being done right along the riverfront (even geese came and joined in); there were people hula-hooping; there was live music all day by multiple people; there were fantastic speakers giving presentations; there was amazing fresh food; there were kids getting their faces painted; there was fresh squeezed lemonade; there were people up dancing and laughing; there were lots of booths with many random things to look at; there were people walking around barefoot with their feet feeling the grass; there was a bounce house full of kids screeching in happiness; there was a plant swap; there was a drumming presentation; and more!
This event was put on by Zen Soul Yogapothecary, Calico Yoga and Nari Grace Yoga. The three ladies names that run these places are Alexis Taryn, Callie Peterson and Gracia Murphy. Samantha Syfert is also an intern that was there all day with the ladies.
These four ladies ran yoga presentations all day long at this event, and the presentations were wildly popular and successful. Even young children joined in the presentations. The instructors alternated instructing.
When asking how the ladies came up with this event, Gracia says, “We came up with the event one night when all three of us were talking about yoga and the idea came up organically and we ran with it!”
Their major passion is Mother Earth and if you watch what these ladies do for just one day, you will see that passion in all they do.
When I first arrived, Dan Murphy was doing a solo acoustic act. The first song I heard him singing upon arriving was “Have You Ever Seen The Rain,” which is a song by Creedence Clearwater Revival, written by John Fogerty. Holy cow, Dan Murphy can sing! All I can say is that I sure hope to hear him do more solo acoustic performance acts. He usually plays on a band called Staggard.
A presentation was given by Prairie Roots Landscaping, Sam Hollingsworth. He started by opening up with a quote that would highlight the importance and wonders of the great outdoors from Burlington native Aldo Leopold: “To those devoid of imagination, a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.” He then got personal and talked about how one of his favorite inspirations was his high school biology teacher, because he took their class out to the wilderness and had them sit in their own places away from anyone else and then assigned him to take notice of anything within a 3 foot radius for 20-30 minutes. Sam says, “A switch flipped after a couple minutes. It was meditative and it was a reconnection.”
There were some absolutely incredible sandwiches made by Joystix and created by Callie Peterson. Joystix owner Pete Joy says, “Callie created the idea and is the one who purchased all the food to make them. Then, Joystix made them.”
Two different types of adult subs were made: The Gaia Goddess Sub and The Garden Fey Sub. Each sandwich offered something a little different, but both were vegetarian options and both were absolutely stunning. There were also Lil’ Garden Gnome Kids Packs for the children who attended the event. There were also six special sauces for folks to choose from, should they want sauce to go on their sandwiches. I can’t tell you the amount of people that I heard talking about how good the sandwiches were. Joystix made 150 sandwiches for the event. Worth noting, the sandwiches were made with Stan’s Pastry Bread, which is a 70 year old recipe bread. Pete Joy also buys three cases of bread a week from Stan’s to use to make all his sandwiches in his business in an effort to support small, local business.
There was three hours of live music from Jonas Woodstock Music. This guy plays with his hands, feet, mouth, you name it. He sings, plays the drums with his feet, plays the harmonica while he’s playing drums and guitar…. he’s incredible!
Grandmothers Susan Ka’iulani Stanton (Hawaiian/Haudenosonne) and Karen Bright (Melbourne Australia) played drum songs and did storytelling from their cultural backgrounds! They also took a lot of time to let many little kids play the drum. They kept telling the little kids, “play it from your heart, feel it from your heart!”
There was a plant swap where folks could bring any plant (or even seeds) to exchange for another plant. That went very well.
There was a bounce house set up for little kids, which was wildly successful.
Vendor showings included Triple Moon Ties, Old Goat Treasures and LavendarNDaisies, plus a lot more I didn’t get names of. James Healthcare was also there.
There was face painting and that was done by a lot of teenagers from Keokuk High School. A lot of those same teenagers helped hand out the sandwiches from Joystix.
About 250-300 people came to the fair this first year.
The Yoga business owners are planning on making this an annual thing. In fact, Gracia says, “Yes, we will do this event next year and for years to come. I hope one day my daughter will be setting up for The Earth Day Fair!”
They are all so grateful that they were able to have this event. Gracia says, “I’m just very excited that Alexis, Callie and I were able to make an event that’s surrounded by our number one passion, which is Mother Earth. Most times, we are outnumbered with plastic use and blind awareness to what happens if you don’t do your part. It felt good to be at an event that catered to vegetarian diets. The amount of help and gratitude from everyone that was involved was amazing!”
Alexis teaches her classes on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. at Riverside Nutrition in Fort Madison; Saturdays at noon at Velocity Dance & Tumbling; and Fridays at 6 p.m. at 711 Main in Keokuk.
Gracia teaches her classes on Saturdays and Sundays at 6 p.m. at 711 Main Street in Keokuk. She also teaches at the YMCA.
Callie teaches her classes on Saturdays and Sundays at 711 Main Street at 6 p.m. in Keokuk. She also teaches at the YMCA.
