Brutus Buckeye poses with students during 2025’s Earth Day celebration on the South Oval. Credit: Courtesy of the American Conservation Coalition – Columbus Chapter
Ohio State’s annual Earth Day celebration will combine sustainability, music, local vendors and more on April 24.
The fourth annual event will return to the South Oval from 3:30 to 7 p.m. with student bands, vendors, speakers, information tables and giveaways, said Ben Rosenthal, president of the American Conservation Coalition at Ohio State, also known as ACC, and a fifth-year in environment, economy, development and sustainability.
Celebrated on April 22, Earth Day has been a national holiday since 1970. Over 1,000 students have attended each year since the celebration began in 2022, Rosenthal said.
The event is meant to feel like a campuswide celebration for everyone, Rosenthal said.
“Because it’s fun,” Rosenthal said. “Everybody deserves a break, so take some time off and come [and] have one big blast before you really dig down and ace your finals.”
Rosenthal said student bands will perform at the Browning Amphitheater.
“It’s a free concert, so you know what’s not to dig about that?” Rosenthal said.
This year’s event is expanding with an art exposition and a graduate-student research component, Rosenthal said.
In addition, Rosenthal said Ohio State’s Dairy Club may be bringing a cow to the event, while vendors and tables will sell and offer various items and information from student and community groups.
Danny Bouharb, ACC vice president and a fourth-year in operations management, said the event is planned through a collaboration of campus organizations, including ACC, Arouse and Sierra Club.
The event is also meant to better connect with the broader Columbus community, Bouharb.
Featured items will center on reused and secondhand goods, which can help keep products out of landfills, Bouharb said.
“A lot of it actually is that some of those products were at their technical end of life and now sort of like being able to be thrifted through this event when normally they might not have been going anywhere but a landfill,” Bouharb said.
Liz Gilbert, ACC chief marketing officer, ambassador and a third-year in marketing, said bringing thrift stores and secondhand items to campus can make alternatives to fast fashion more accessible.
“Because of this event, being able to bring a lot of thrift stores and second hand items to campus makes it a lot more accessible and in that way it’s kind of lengthening that product’s end of life,” Gilbert said.
There will be recycling and compost bins, and organizers said they see room to keep improving the event’s own sustainability practices in the future.