Thousands flocked to the Fairhope Pier on Saturday to celebrate a coveted annual local festival.

Earth Day Mobile Bay, co-sponsored by the Sierra Club Mobile Bay Group and the City of Fairhope, provides an experience where attendees can learn about the environment from advocacy groups and organizations, shop from local artists and vendors, and enjoy the outdoors while listening to live music.

The national event was founded in 1970 by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson to spread awareness about the lack of legal or regulatory mechanisms that protected the environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Shortly after, Congress authorized the creation of the EPA, a new federal agency to tackle environmental issues.

For Fairhope and many of its outdoor-loving residents, it’s personal.

“It’s so important for us to continue to educate future generations and even the people who’ve moved here from out of town about how important our bay and the natural resources that we have here on the Eastern Shore and the Mobile Bay area are and how important that is for us to protect,” said Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan.

The city has hosted an “anti-litter campaign” for about 15 years with local K-6 schools to educate students about why littering is harmful, Sullivan said. As part of the campaign, T-shirts are distributed, which students are allowed to wear to school all year long. The design is chosen in a 5th grade student art contest.

“I didn’t think I was going to win. I’m pretty excited,” said the winner, Maddy Haddan, a 10-year-old student from Fairhope West Elementary School, while sporting the T-shirt with her “Everything is Greener when it’s Cleaner” design.

The Sierra Club of Mobile Bay is involved in organizing the event, but the current local group’s chair, Vaughn Millner, said the festival is a “culmination” of many people and groups coming together who want to protect the Gulf Coast.

“It’s a wonderful way to be able to see how many people care in so many different ways,” she said. “The environment is multifactorial, and it gets help from all different sectors, and you can see that here.”

Exhibitors include environmental and educational groups such as the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, the Gulf Coast Exploreum, Baldwin County Trailblazers, Five Rivers Delta Resource Center and the Weeks Bay Reserve host booths to spread knowledge about the outdoors and their missions.

Other exhibitors include local restaurants or artists, including TrippinSeed Tie Dye, two artists who create dyed accessories and apparel.

“This event is amazing,” artist Sherry Peckens said. “Everybody here wants to do something good for the environment. They want to be conscious. Fairhope really has a really good collection of people. They’re all very kind in this community, and I just fit in here.”

There was also a free “community shredding event” at the pier during the festival in which attendees could bring old documents to shred and recycle.

Visit earthdaymobilebay.org to learn more about the annual festival, its origins, the exhibitors and how to get involved.