Celebrating Earth Week with the Squonk Opera
While Earth Week traditionally is an annually reoccurring catalyst for a variety of riveting and influential events scattered across cities around the globe, we are in for a real treat this year Chattanooga. On April 11th, a premiere Pre-Earth Week event will be featured at the historic Engel Stadium, at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.
UTC, and the City of Chattanooga, are combining forces with sponsors, EPB, the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, and Tennessee Color Solutions, to present the Earth, Wind, and Solar Festival, featuring Squonk Opera, which will be a potent, rocking, pedagogic, family friendly, and inspiring event.
The spectacular musical guests Squonk Opera will be performing a lively and animated outdoor music event about air, made of air, and powered by air, called Pneumatica, which is sure to be a crowd favorite. With three separate performance times scheduled throughout the day, it is certain that people that witness the first performance will do their best to catch all three shows.
According to UTC’s event page, “Squonk Opera pumps up the volume with live original music that permeates the air, while inflatables pump up and immerse the audience.”
The Pittsburgh based “Squonkers” have played around a large portion of the globe, and much of the United States, mesmerizing large audiences with their shows. They were featured on the hit television show America's Got Talent, where they advanced beyond the top fifty, and played in front of millions of people during a nationwide performance while on the show.
The show will be extravagant, and the stage will be magnetizing. Wind machines associated with Squonk Opera will absorb the crowds. The shows will commence at 4, 6:30, and 8 p.m.; with workshops following the 4 and 6 p.m. shows.
As if Squonk Opera was not reason enough to come venture out, the event is so much more than just a jam session show with gnarly inflatables. The activities and happenings that power this festival will captivate the hearts and minds of everybody in attendance. Though the educational influence will be in abundance, a variety of attributes, interactive aspects, food, and flair, will be extraordinarily engaging to the attendees.
Accompanying the “Squonks” will be silent auctions, workshops presented by the sponsors, along with Hamilton County Schools featuring working displays from their robotics, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) classes.
Local crafters and farmers will have displays set up with items for sale, “local sustainable not-for-profit businesses, and corporate vendors will be on hand to demonstrate products, and educate everyone on making sustainable living practices a viable choice for daily life” Food trucks will be on site containing some of the most delicious food Chattanooga has to offer.
Tree Dimensional, a local digital art production company will be on site projecting brain interactive anaglyphic three dimensional psychedelic fractals. Owner Merrill Val Love creates original mind bending content that is absolutely entrancing, and is a highly anticipated aspect of the event.
Tree Dimensional has been featured at many music and arts festivals around the Southeast, but traditionally has been awesome yet standard fractal lighting. The Earth, Wind, and Solar Festival will be the public unveiling of his mad scientist three dimensional projection masterpiece. The fractals will be displayed inside of the hallways surrounding the stadium.
The office of sustainability at UTC is doing their part to protect the Earth. They are working every day to incorporate energy efficiency and sustainability in construction, renovation, green space projects, operations and maintenance at UTC, while minimizing the use of non-renewable energy sources, and greenhouse gas emissions through green power.
They have a fully functioning aquaponics system that will be on display at the festival, along with the local gardens at UTC, which have been recently revitalized, and are now thriving. Sustainability is vital to humanity, and people should take note at the progressive advancements being made at UTC while at the festival.
Despite recent political abominations that discredit environmental concerns, there has never been a more critical time to take the steps toward sustainable living. The time is now for people to fight for Planet Earth.
At this phase of the “game”, every single day should be Earth Day, and every week should be Earth Week. We the people need to understand that our beloved planet will eventually meet its imminent demise if we do not unite to combat the damage being caused to it.
If hosting a festival with a boisterous music act is a way to gain attention to the necessity of sustainability, then great, we should have one every weekend. Our resources are plummeting, our top-soil is fading fast, mother nature is screaming at us to fight her.
Come to this event not only to see one of the coolest shows in existence, but also to support our local schools, farmers, vendors, businesses; and to gain knowledge of sustainability in order to attempt to reverse the horrendous damage plaguing Earth, and to potentially learn how to eventually survive.