Worldwide, Earth Day events celebrate our planet’s diverse cultural heritage and bring focus to helping make this orb of ours a better place to live. There are major events planned for Tokyo, Rome, Thailand and Kenya. Here in the states, there are a large number of activities where you can get involved. Hands on, close by, so it’s easy to show you care.
Our National Parks
Let’s start with the biggest overview in the country, our National Park Service. You can plug in your state on their website, or where you’re traveling, and find out everything planned for the big day this year, April 22, here. You’ll find all types of activities to attend or volunteer. And this year, Earth Day is actually part of NPS’s National Park Week, so you can spread out your participation. Surely, there’s a National Park near you.
Earth Day Boston
Where else could you get environmentalist Bill McKibben to keynote a festival that honors our commitment to Mother Earth? It all takes place at the Boston Common, with the “One Sun, One Earth, One People” celebration that brings in a Native American connection to the celebration. There are many activities planned all April, too.
Coastal Connecticut
Halfway between Hartford/New Haven and New York City you’ll find the 5th annual Norwalk Earth Day Festival. Live music, food trucks, over 70 exhibitors, plus their unique “trashion” show. You’ll be inspired, educated, and entertained! What could be better?
New York City’s Union Square
Earth Day Festival 2026 is free and open to the public. You’ll learn about going green and how to take climate action. It also features a live performance from Hila The Earth and a special kids’ conversation with Mother Earth herself!
One internet source indicated 51 different Earth Day events in and around New York City, so you should be able to find something of interest. NY parks will celebrate, but be prepared for the 10th Annual Car-Free Earth Day all across the city, where only bike traffic will be permitted, with free limited bike rentals.
Earth Month D.C.
Trust our nation’s capital to put together a grand celebration for Mother Earth. Headquarters would be the Smithsonian itself with a huge roster of events all over town. If there’s any aspect to saving the planet that you’re interested in, you’ll find it at one of the many Smithsonian locations throughout D.C. From plants in outer space (at the Air & Space Museum) to Stamping Out Waste (at the Postal Museum) to a Living Earth Festival (at the American Indian Museum), you can celebrate Earth Day all year long.
Children’s Museum of Atlanta
Earth is too important for just a single day celebration. Here is where you’ll discover Earth Month. Families can enjoy fun-filled activities all throughout April, like making real paper from actual seeds and taking “Cardboard Climateer” tours through neighboring Georgia forest land. All month long.
Earth Day Chicago
With 26 miles of beachfront, you better believe Chicago will be getting involved this Earth Day. There are so many individual organizations holding events, it might be wise to start with a grand overview of what’s planned, from beach cleanups, to bar-hopping, wine-tasting fund raisers, to seminars and displays. A good starting point would be here.
The three lakefront universities (Northwestern, Chicago and Loyola) will have student-run activities, as well. Chicago also has a nearby Botanic Garden and Arboretum, not to mention an extensive Forest Preserve system. Everywhere you look, it’s easy to find some green space in Chicago, and chances are, folks will be out and about this Earth Day celebrating.
Rockin’ Earth Day Milwaukee
Never missing the chance for a party, Milwaukee’s Rock the Green Earth Day Festival will get you enthused, entertained and activated. On the grounds of the Harley-Davidson Museum, the 15th annual festival will be bigger and better than ever. Entertainment, food, displays, activities, fun, fun, fun. The Zero Waste concept will be featured and SistaStrings will entertain. Check it out.
Earth Day Cleanup Minneapolis
This is the largest community-backed event in the state and the list of local clean up locations is huge. You’ll find a ton of suggested activities here. Over 25,000 people usually get involved, and your participation can extend beyond the city borders to include the Mississippi River cleanup scheduled around the same time by Friends of the River. There are also events in St. Paul.
St. Louis Clean
After you’ve cleaned up the upper Mississippi, head south to St. Louis to continue your environmental mission. Earth Day 365 promises to get you connected and involved with the movement to maintain our planet through sustainability efforts. They will have lectures, music, food, demonstrations and presentations from some of the leading organizations in the Earth Day family. Find out, and feel good, about the real progress being made in the field. And you have two days to immerse yourself.
Go West, Young Environmentalist
If you’re heading west over the next month or so, there are a few special events that have been tied into Earth Day you can check out. Just south of Denver is the Garden of the Gods, a natural rock formation, which is holding its 29th Earth Day festival with presentations, live animals, crafts and demonstrations in a truly unique setting.
In Albuquerque, at Balloon Festival Park, the Earth Day Festival takes an “Our Power, Our Planet” theme to the hilt, with lots of solar power education and demonstrations, of course. They’re serious, too, with even a suggested bike route to attend and a “bike valet” service.
Perhaps, one of the earliest and most serious Earth Day Festivals started in Santa Barbara, California, an hour or so west of Los Angeles. It’s their 56th Earth Day celebration and it goes on for two days, with music, plant-forward food, and the largest green EV auto collection on the west coast. SB takes this stuff very seriously; remember the oil spill right off the coast?
And finally, in Hawaii, you can get a great indoctrination into saving the planet, almost spiritual in nature, in the Waimea Valley. Nestled on Oahu’s north shore, you’ll discover a whole attitude about being a “Steward” of the environment and the responsibilities we all owe, so to speak, to Mother Earth herself.
Of course, wherever you find your Earth Day celebration, look to GO Airport Shuttle for a convenient ride to and from every airport connection you need. And, if you want to be economical and environmentally friendly, check out our ride-share shuttle service in many cities. That’s our responsibility to you.