Pemberton Historical Park to Host Rain Barrel Workshop for Public

Spring showers bring great flowers, but rainfall sends harmful stormwater runoff into the Bay. Help do your part by installing a rain barrel at your home!  Join us at Pemberton Park in Salisbury on Thursday, April 14 from 1-3pm to discuss how runoff from your property affects the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Bays, and learn simple techniques to help reduce runoff - and lower your water bill - by using rain barrels. Supplies will be on-hand for you to build your own rain barrel to take home! $20 includes the workshop and materials to build an attractive rain barrel for your landscape. 

Rain barrels are catching on throughout the Lower Shore.  Grow Berlin Green (GBG), a partnership between the Lower Shore Land Trust, Assateague Coastal Trust, and Maryland Coastal Bays Program, has encouraged the use of rain barrels throughout the town of Berlin, distributing almost 100 rain barrels to interested homeowners and businesses. Steve Farr of GBG highly recommends rain barrels as “a great way to conserve water resources and especially convenient for watering your gardens while keeping excess nutrients out of stormwater drains.”

Salisbury area organizations are taking advantage of the benefits of rain barrels, too. Last year, Pemberton Historical Park planted a Children’s Heritage Garden filled with heirloom vegetables and cared for by children using only organic and sustainable gardening practices. In keeping with this theme, the Park has decided to host the rain barrel workshop and build a rain themselves to integrate into the Garden. Kerri Liming, Pemberton Historical Park’s Education Director, said “The rain barrel will be a great addition to our environmental education curriculum, helping summer camp participants and Wicomico public school students learn yet another way they can grow their own food in a manner that is sustainable and also honors to their heritage.”

This workshop is presented in partnership with the Lower Shore Land Trust and Environmental Concern, and funding is provided by the Chesapeake Bay Trust. Interested participants are asked to RSVP by April 11. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Christy Hallman at 410-641-4467, or CHallman@lowershorelandtrust.org.