I was there when Earth Day started

I participated in the very first Earth Day, although here in Devils Lake, back in April of 1970 we didn’t call it that, we ddi a “Walk for Development” that year.

One of my best friends, Randy Schell, was one of the organizers of the event. We went around to businesses and individuals asking for them to support us as we “walked.”

Some gave a dollar a mile, some less, some more, but all the walkers had to have someone “supporting” their participation.

I remember feeling very thrilled to be involved with something right here in little old Devils Lake, ND, my hometown, that was also happening in thousands of other little and big towns around the country. Actually all around the world.

The course was mapped out and although it was only April, there was still snow on the ground.

There were card tables set up every few miles that were filled with cups of water, tissues, fruit and fruit juices for the walkers. I believe along the way we saw Port-A-Potties, too, although they were a 1970 version of what we know today.

I wore my snowboots because there had been fresh snow overnight, as I recall. Those boots were not, however, made for walking long distances. I only made it half way through the course. We walked from Roosevelt Park all the way to Old Highway 2 and the “back door” to Crary – a distance of 15 miles. The school in Crary was still there, but I am not sure if they still had classes in the building or if those students were divided up and going to other schools around the region as the population dwindled. But the half-way point for the Walk for Development was the school in Crary and there they gave us a light lunch and if you were footsore and ready to go home, grain trucks and buses were available to drive you back to DL.

I was ready to go home! So I rode in the back of a grain truck with several others who were tired, yet happy to have made it as far as we had.

I feel kinda proud of our little town in the middle of the high plains participating in something that would continue for what, 56 years? I can boast, “I was there at the very start” of Earth Day and I’m proud of each and every person who participated, whether they walked only a few miles, half way or all the way. We raised quite a bit of money, if I remember correctly, and that money went to help people less fortunate than us healthy and hearty North Dakotans. It was probably my first experience of the joy in giving to others. It certanly was not my last experience of the joy that comes in helping others.