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 In order to make EarthFest as enjoyable as possible, we would like to provide you with the necessary information for travel and parking ahead of time. Please read the following tips and share them with the other teachers/chaperones on your bus.
Please note: There are often other large events taking place in the region around the time of EarthFest. If you use an outside bus company for your travel needs, make your arrangements early!
Because of the volume of buses on our parking lot the day of EarthFest, and since most school buses look nearly identical, there may be some difficulties in locating your bus when you are ready to take the children back to their school. To make your bus easier to identify, two signs will be provided with the name of your school to post on the back window and side of your bus. Decorate them in any way you like — make it a classroom project with an environmental theme!
- We unfortunately do not have the means to contact the bus drivers ahead of time. We ask that you provide the included information under “Bus Tips for Bus Drivers” to the driver so that he/she may read it over before you depart.
- Double check with the bus driver as to what time you need to bring the children back to the bus.
- Go over with the children what they should do if they get separated or lost at EarthFest (have them go to one of the Information Tables marked on the event map).
We suggest that you also provide them with a CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER so that we can reach you if students become separated from their groups.
- Make sure you post your signs on the bus. Tape one sign on the window near the main door. Tape the second on the emergency door in the rear, towards the bottom of the door so it is not blocking the driver’s view. Please ask the bus driver for permission to tape the signs inside the bus.
- Ask the bus driver if the school bus is going to be staying on our lot for the day or if the bus is dropping your group off and coming back to pick you up. This is a very important detail that needs to be decided before you leave your school.
- Make sure the bus driver knows the only entrance/exit for EarthFest will be from Butler Pike.
If your bus is dropping off the children, leaving, and returning later in the day:
The bus must enter the parking lot and drop you off alongside the recreation field. There should be no drop-off’s along Meetinghouse Road. Please remind your students to stay calm (no pushing, shoving, or running) when getting off the bus and when getting back on the bus. When the bus comes back to pick up your group, with approximately 40 buses picking up students around the same time, the buses may be lined up side by side and backed into the parking spot instead of lined up one behind the other along the grass. For this reason, please make sure you are able to identify your bus from the school’s sign placed in the back of the bus.
 If your bus is staying on our lot for the day:
- Your bus is going to pull into the parking spot first. Once the bus is parked in the spot where it will stay for the day, you will be able to escort the children off the bus.
- If your bus is parked facing the ball fields, escort the children off the bus and walk forward to the gravel sidewalk, which will lead you to EarthFest. We will have staff on hand to make sure you lead the children in the correct direction.
- If your bus is parked facing the parking lot, escort the children off the bus and towards the rear of the bus, across and between the other parked buses, and continue on until you reach the gravel sidewalk, which will lead you to EarthFest. We will have staff on hand to make sure you lead the children in the correct direction.
- At the end of the day when you are ready to leave, please stay on the grass until you have all of your children accounted for. Then escort your children to your bus. This time you will approach the bus from the rear. Please make sure your children load the bus in a single line, staying away from the front of the buses. Once the bus driver has confirmed everyone on the bus is accounted for, the bus will then pull out and head back to your school.
We do not want anyone by the ball field located next to where the buses park for the day. The reason is simply a safety issue. Since the ball field is located next to the area where the buses pull out, we don’t want the children accidently stepping in this area. For the safety of the children, we ask that you stay away from the ball field.
If your bus IS NOT staying for the day (returning later to pick up):
- When you are dropped off in the morning, your bus will pull through the parking lot and up to the edge of the grass as directed by volunteers. In the afternoon, we are expecting about 30 to 40 buses so there may be a line of buses waiting to pick up the various groups. Please make sure you are able to identify your bus and that your entire group is accounted for and ready to board the bus when it pulls up.
- Please make sure your students are staying clear of any other bus. Students should not be playing near or around the buses.
If your bus IS staying on our parking lot for the day:
- The students should remain calm while exiting the bus and walk in an orderly fashion until they reach EarthFest. No pushing, shoving or running on the pavement or around buses at any time.
- Please do not leave anything on the bus. The buses will not be accessible until you are ready to leave.
- If your bus is parked facing the ball fields (facing away from the parking lot), escort the students off the bus, heading past the front of the bus and forward to the gravel sidewalk which will lead you to EarthFest. We will have staff on hand to make sure you lead the students in the correct direction.
- If your bus is parked facing the parking lot, escort the students off the bus and past the rear of the bus, across and between the other parked buses, and continue on until you reach the gravel sidewalk which will lead you to EarthFest. We will have staff on hand to make sure you lead the students in the correct direction.
- At the end of the day when you are ready to leave, please stay on the grass until you have ALL of your students accounted for. Then escort students to the bus. This time you will approach the bus from the rear. Please make sure your students load the bus in a single line, staying away from the front of the buses. Once the bus driver has confirmed everyone that should be on the bus is accounted for, the bus will be able to pull out and head back to your school.
An attendance of more than 10,000 is expected at EarthFest. Due to increased levels of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, temporary changes to parking at Temple University Ambler will be in effect during EarthFest.
- The Meetinghouse Road entrance leading to the large student lot (lot #3) will be closed to ALL traffic entering Lot #3.
- ALL vehicles entering and exiting the large student lot (lot #3) will be required to do so by way of Butler Pike.
- Buses must enter the parking lot via the Butler Pike entrance.
- The faculty/staff/visitor parking lot (lot #1) will be available to faculty and staff and also vendors and exhibitors attending the event. Access to Lot #1 will still be via Meetinghouse Road. Faculty and staff that commonly park in the Learning Center parking lot (lot #2) may park in lot #1 or they may back into the grass along Loop Road near the basketball courts.
- A section of the large student lot (lot #3) will be reserved for school buses. The heaviest volume of traffic will occur between the hours of 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. and Noon to 2:00 p.m., when the largest number of school children will be arriving or leaving the campus.
- Directional signs will be placed throughout the campus to assist attendees, employees, students, and visitors.
- Please allow extra time to arrive at your classes and/or offices. Depending upon what time you arrive in the parking lot, parking spaces may be scarce and it may take longer to find one.
- Please drive slowly when entering and leaving the campus, due to the number of people and children that will be here.
- We hope you enjoy this important and worthwhile event!
We ask that wherever possible, faculty and staff who normally park in parking lot next to the Learning Center please park in the faculty/staff/visitors lot across from the Administration Building on Friday, April 26. Your assistance in accommodating our exhibitors on this day will be invaluable and certainly appreciated.
Please note: There will be no internal handicapped parking available near West Hall during the day of EarthFest. Should you require access to handicapped parking within the interior of campus (located at Dixon Hall and Widener Hall), we ask that you please arrive by 8:30 a.m. as there will be no internal traffic on campus after that time due to the anticipated crowd of visitors. Additionally, we ask that individuals parking in those spots not depart campus until after 2 p.m., also due to the crowds.
EarthFest is an event that is open for everyone to visit, enjoy, and explore. We invite and encourage individuals and families from throughout the region to visit the event and experiences everything that EarthFest has to offer.
Individuals and families visiting EarthFest will park in the same lot as our visiting buses. You will enter the large lot from Butler Pike.
Please note the following important parking information for the day of EarthFest:
- The Meetinghouse Road entrance leading to the large student lot (lot #3) will be closed to ALL traffic.
- ALL vehicles entering and exiting the large student lot (lot #3) will be required to do so by way of Butler Pike.
- A section of the large student lot (lot #3) will be reserved for school buses. The heaviest volume of traffic will occur between the hours of 8:30 A.M. - 10:00 A.M. and Noon – 2:00 P.M, when the largest number of school children will be arriving or leaving the campus.
- Directional signs will be placed throughout the campus to assist attendees, employees, students, and visitors.
- Please drive slowly when entering and leaving the campus, due to the number of people and children that will here.
- We hope you enjoy this very important and worthwhile event!
PLEASE NOTE THAT PARKING INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PRIOR TO THE EVENT.
As EarthFest has grown over the years, the number of exhibitors that take part in the event has grown right along with it. Exhibitors are located in three areas of the event - at the Center of Campus (Exhibit Area 1), to the rear of West Hall near the Junior Flower Show (Exhibit Area 2) and near the campus Learning Center and the EarthFest Main Stage (Exhibit Area 3). Exhibitors will be informed of the specific location of their booth/table prior to the event - please note that booth assignments are subject to change.
EXHIBITOR DROP-OFF AND PARKING MAP
Please follow the signs once you arrive on Meetinghouse Road to where you will unload your exhibit materials. You will follow Loop Road into the central part of campus to Exhibit
Area 1 (please see Exhibitor Drop-Off and Parking Map). Once you have completed unloading, you will to return Loop Road. All exhibitors in the central part of campus are asked to park in the designated exhibitor parking location indicated on the map as Exhibitor Parking B.
EXHIBITOR DROP-OFF AND PARKING MAP
As an exhibitor near the Junior Flower Show — Exhibit Area 2 on the Exhibitor Drop-Off and Parking Map — you will travel around the back of campus along Loop Road to behind West Hall to unload your exhibit materials. All exhibitors behind West Hall are asked to park in the designated exhibitor parking location(s), which you will be guided to the morning of EarthFest.
EXHIBITOR DROP-OFF AND PARKING MAP
You will follow Loop Road to Lot 2, the lot near the Learning Center. You will park in the lot, unload your supplies, and walk to your exhibit area nearby — Exhibit Area 3 on the Exhibitor Drop-Off and Parking Map.
 For questions about school transportation, bus parking, or changes to parking during EarthFest for students, faculty, and staff, contact:
Susan Spinella Sacks
267-468-8312
Larry O’Reilly
267-486-8507
For questions about exhibitor parking, contact:
Jim Duffy
267-468-8108
267-629-9045 (cell) - available after 7 a.m. the day of EarthFest
  
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