Four Zero-Waste Events at Finley Stadium to Celebrate Earth Day
On Saturday April 22nd Finley Stadium and the First Horizon Pavilion will be hosting a record four events on its campus in one day. Drive Electric Scenic City’s EV Showcase, green|spaces Chattanooga’s Eco Field Day, the Association of Visual Arts’ 4 Bridges Arts Festival and the Chattanooga Football Club’s match against Flower City Union, all taking place on Earth Day between the Stadium and Pavilion this year.
The four events collectively will bring over 10,000 guests to Finley’s campus throughout the day and the potential for a lot of waste.
“When we began planning our Spring schedule of events and realized 4 Bridges and a CFC match would fall on Earth Day, both led by community-minded organizations, and then had the opportunity to recruit Eco Field Day and EV Showcase, it was the perfect storm to collectively see how we could make an impact this Earth Day,” said Brian Wright, Executive Director at Finley Stadium and the First Horizon Pavilion.
As part of the festivities, food and beverage vendors for all the events at Finley’s campus on April 22nd will almost exclusively utilize Aluminum and Plastic #1 recyclables and compostable serving ware and materials. Compost, Recycling (and just a few Landfill containers) will be clearly labeled throughout the Stadium and Pavilion, and hand sorted post event, with the goal of achieving a 90% diversion rate for the day.
NewTerra Compost has partnered with AVA and Finley Stadium to provide all compostable serving ware for the events, oversee collection, and then hauling to their commercial composting site to convert the material back into usable compost.
“NewTerra is happy to partner with Finley Stadium and AVA as well as events all over the Chattanooga area to reduce our waste footprint,” said Michael Ryan, co-founder of New Terra Compost. “There is no reason any event in our beautiful city should produce so much landfill when composting and recycling are accessible options.”
All aluminum cans will be recycled with 100% of commodity proceeds donated to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga, through a partnership with Finley Stadium that has already raised over $500.00 for Habitat projects and recycled over 20,000 cans in only a few months. Habitat for Humanity will also be the Cause of the Match for CFC’s match at 7:30pm.
"Habitat Chattanooga is excited to partner with Finley Stadium on Earth Day and every day as we partner in caring for our physical community and the people in it,” said Jens Christensen, President and CEO of Habitat Chattanooga. “We're grateful for Finley's leadership and vision as they work to recycle cans into homes for our vulnerable and underserved neighbors."
In addition to events on Earth Day, Finley Stadium will be celebrating Earth Week with the planting of 200 pollinators and native plant species around the stadium gates with volunteers from the Tennessee Valley chapter of Wild Ones. The planters are filled partially with NewTerra recycled finished compost from Downtown Chattanooga. Finley staff and Chattanooga FC players also recently volunteered at a Habitat house-build in the nearby Alton Park neighborhood.
April 22nd Events Information
Drive Electric Scenic City will be hosting its EV Showcase inside the Chestnut Street Gates at Finley Stadium from 9am – 1pm, free to the public. For more information, visit https://www.driveelectricsceniccity.org/.
green|spaces Chattanooga will be hosting Eco Field Day, sponsored by EPB, on Davenport Field at Finley Stadium from 9am – 1pm, corporate and community teams are encouraged to sign-up! Entrance is through the Reggie White North Field Gates. For more information, visit https://www.greenspaceschattanooga.org/ecofieldday.
The Association of Visual Arts is hosting the award-winning 4 Bridges Arts Festival, open to the general public Saturday and Sunday 10am – 5pm at the First Horizon Pavilion. For more information, visit https://www.avarts.org/about-4baf1.
The Chattanooga Football Club takes on Flower City Union at 7:30pm at Finley Stadium. The match is presented by EPB, gates open at 6:30pm. For tickets and group outing information, visit cfctix.com.