The 14th annual Etowah County Water Festival was held Friday, December 12 on the Wallace Drive Campus of Gadsden State Community College from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. An estimated 1,400 fourth-graders from Etowah County schools were estimated to attend the fun and innovative event.
The festival, designed to educate students and their families about all aspects of groundwater, was co-sponsored by Gadsden State Community College, the City of Gadsden, the Gadsden Water Works and Sewer Board, Keep Etowah Beautiful, Sheriff Todd Entrekin, and the Etowah County Sheriff’s Department. Support also comes from a number of other agencies and Gadsden area businesses.
Students and teachers who attended the festival participated in three 30-minute hands-on activities throughout the day where they learned about natural resources and general environmental awareness. Following the classroom sessions, students attended a magic show. The magic show was developed as a way to demonstrate the importance of clean water in a fun and exciting way.
All attendees and volunteers received a free Water Festival t-shirt which featured the winning design by Dylan Wullimann, a fourth-grade student of Ms. Michelle Pierce at Eura Brown Elementary School.
For more information, please contact Frank Eskridge of Gadsden Water Works at 256-543-2884; Lisa Dover, director of Keep Etowah Beautiful, at 256-549-0900, or Dr. Hugh Hammer, program manager for the Aquaculture Education and Development Center at Gadsden State, at 256-549-8345.