For the second time, two festivals in Franklin will come together to promote local artists, the environment and sustainable living.

Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Southern Kentucky Earth Day Festival and the Cherry Blossom Art and Music Festival will be running side by side on the courthouse lawn in downtown Franklin.

Barb Markell-Thomas, chair of the Earth Day Festival’s planning committee, said the event will feature more than two dozen vendors providing information about topics, like beekeeping and organic gardening, and give people a chance to recycle electronic equipment and other large items they don’t need anymore.

“It’s just to highlight our need to become more sustainable,” she said.

Markell-Thomas said the Earth Day Festival and the Cherry Blossom Festival have traditionally been held one week apart, though people involved with organizing both events decided to have them at the same time last year.

“We have them so close together and we thought we could just kind of join forces in our marketing and also there’s a lot of crossover with the people involved in both festivals,” she said.

At the Earth Day Festival, Shelby’s Recycling will be on-site to take unneeded appliances off people’s hands, Markell-Thomas said.

“They’ll take washers, dryers, microwaves, lawn furniture, refrigerators, batteries. … I mean, all that kind of junk you need to get rid of but don’t know how,” she said.

Additionally, Bowling Green Area Microcomputer User Group will be at the festival to collect unwanted devices like old computers and cellphones and Knighthorst Shredding will also be there to shred up to five boxes of documents for each attendee, Markell-Thomas said.

According to Amy Ellis, the Cherry Blossom Festival, which she manages, will be on the east side of the square while the Earth Day Festival unfolds on the west side.

Ellis, who is also the executive director at Franklin-Simpson Renaissance, a nonprofit dedicated to stimulating downtown economic development and promoting the downtown area, said scheduling both events for the same time and place has been mutually beneficial.

“It worked out really well,” she said. “It brings a big crowd downtown to enjoy the day and that’s what we want.”

The event will feature two musical acts, Ellis said. First, the Red River Fiddlers will play from 10 a.m. to noon, followed by Dom Wier from noon to 2 p.m.

According to his website, Wier is a Nashville-based “roots country rock” artist.

The Cherry Blossom Festival will also gather roughly 25 vendors showing their artwork and, in some cases, demonstrating the process of making the art.

“We have artist booths and it’s all handmade items,” she said. “Many of them will also be demonstrating what they do.”

In conjunction with the festivals, participating members of Franklin Downtown Merchants will be giving an Easter egg to anyone spending more than $20 in their shop, some of them containing candy and some bearing cash, Ellis said.

On Saturday, the square in downtown Franklin will also be the starting point for the Square to Square Ride, an annual fundraiser for the Simpson County Literacy Center.

Sally Maloney, the Literacy Center’s director, said the event allows cyclists to ride one of four routes ranging in length from 12 to 62 miles.

The two longest routes will take participants from Franklin’s square to the square in downtown Adairville and back, she said.

According to Maloney, the event starts at 8 a.m. Participants can register at First United Methodist Church starting at 7 a.m., she said.

“You can register the day of,” she said. “A lot of cyclists watch the weather to decide what they want to do.”

Rain or shine, Maloney said there will be plenty of cyclists making the journey.

“These bicyclists, I tell you, they’re a tough breed,” she said. “They’ll be here rain or shine.”

Maloney said she thinks combining the Earth Day Festival and the Cherry Blossom Festival into one large event creates a good backdrop for the Literacy Center’s fundraiser.

“A lot of our riders come in from out of town so we love combining with the Earth Day and the Cherry Blossom (festivals),” she said. “It’s a nice event to show out-of-towners.”