April 4, 2008
Vol. 38, No. 129

Contact: Terri DePrima, Alapocas Run State Park, 302-577-1164; or Necia Beck, Delaware State Parks, 302-739-9191, necia.beck@state.de.us

Blue Ball Barn Goes ‘Green’ for April 27 Event 

WILMINGTON, Del. - The Blue Ball Barn in Alapocas Run State Park will host its first “Go Green” event from noon to 3 p.m., Sunday, April 27. The event is designed to raise awareness about the importance of environmental conservation through a variety of fun activities, displays and presentations. Local groups with an environmental focus will be on hand, as well as artists whose work appears in the Delaware Folk Art Collection housed at the Blue Ball Barn. 

Groups scheduled to appear are the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, Brandywine Zoo’s Traveling Zoo, Master Gardeners, Delaware Invasive Species Council, Delaware Greenways, and more. Visitors will learn about composting and saving money with green practices, and children can create their own Salvage Art using recycled materials. The event is free to the public. Park entry fees are in effect.

The Blue Ball Barn is itself an example of the adaptive reuse of an historic structure and was the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified public building in Delaware when it opened in March 2007. The building houses exhibits which present its history as a dairy farm, and is home to the Delaware Folk Art Collection. The collection contains more than 120 works by 50 artists. It is the only such collection housed in a public building such as the Blue Ball Barn.

The Blue Ball Barn is located just off I-95 at the intersection of Foulk Road and Concord Pike in Wilmington. For more information, call 302-577-1164 or visit www.destateparks.com/blueball.