New Pioneers' 17th annual Green Festival was a huge hit this April in downtown Springfield, bringing over 200 community members together to celebrate Earth Day in a fun-filled and educational way!
The 2026 Green Festival featured a wide variety of familiar, fan-favorite activities, as well as the introduction of a few new festivities! This included educational opportunities with local environmental organizations, like Dark Sky Kentucky, the Division of Forestry, the Washington County High School Environmental Club, and 10+ more local exhibitors. These exhibitors also helped us celebrate the planet with free tree seedling giveaways, EV test drives, games, environmental resources, and more.
This year's Green Festival also reintroduced local "Green" vendors selling homemade, handcrafted, and locally sourced items. Through these vendors, participants enjoyed shopping for and learning about honey, beeswax products, wool, goat milk products, clean-burn candles, leather goods, plants, handmade jewelry, and more!
Entertainment was also in full swing at this year's Green Festival with a kids' play area, brought to you by the Woodland Wonders Forest School, featuring nature-based crafts, games, and hands-on activities throughout the day! Mr. Dan Pascucci with Bernheim Forest also joined the festival in the morning to perform a series of interactive tunes about nature for all to enjoy.
Participants of Green Festival also had the opportunity to view live Owls with the Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary and ask their caretakers any questions they might have. Additionally, folks could view a live opossum, pigeon, and snake with the Enchanted Forest, and even "adopt" their own stuffed animal version of the critters!
Finally, the winning submissions of the 2026 Nature Photo Contest were displayed throughout the day for our attendees to enjoy the beautiful artwork and photographs of Kentucky. Congratulations to Dixie Grigsby, Em Coakley, and Melissa Varelas!
We are so grateful to each food vendor, product vendor, exhibitor, entertainer, volunteer, and sponsor who made New Pioneers' 17th annual Green Festival possible, and such a shining success! Our 2026 theme, "Community Starts Here," was definitely well represented, thanks to each contributor and attendee.
The New Pioneers' team is beyond grateful to once again celebrate our planet and local sustainability efforts through this family-friendly day for the community. We thank all who joined us, and can't wait until next year's Green Festival!
To view more photos from the 2026 Green Festival, click here, or on the collage above.
