Correspondent photo / John Patrick Gatta... Sara Hendricks of Canfield, right, takes a break from her Ellsworth Lavender Farm vending area to visit Alyson Wakeen of Cambium Soulful Connection Inside Out and soak up the aroma of one of Cambium’s loose leaf herbal teas at Saturday’s Pollinator Palooza at the Mahoning Soil and Water Conservation District.

YOUNGSTOWN — Seeding the minds of area residents, the Mahoning County Soil and Water Conservation District hosted its second annual Pollinator Palooza on Saturday at the district’s office.

The free, family-friendly event offered information to create and care for a healthier environment as well as opportunities to support Mahoning Valley pollinators — native plants, bees, butterflies, birds and other beneficial wildlife.

“Pollinators are responsible for helping many plants reproduce by moving pollen from one flower to another. That process is what allows plants to produce fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts,” said Zack Felger, MCSWCD outreach and education specialist.

“Bees are some of the most efficient pollinators, but butterflies, moths, beetles, hummingbirds and even bats also play an important role.”

He explained the connection between pollinators and our daily lives, particularly when it comes to the food supply and crops such as apples, pumpkins, blueberries, cucumbers and almonds.

“Roughly one out of every three bites of food we eat depends on pollination in some way. Beyond food production, pollinators also support healthy ecosystems by helping native plants reproduce, which provides habitat and food for wildlife,” he said.

Felger noted a reason to have Pollinator Palooza is that numerous pollinator populations are declining because of habitat loss, pesticide usage, invasive species and climate-related changes.

“That’s why conservation efforts — even small ones like planting native flowers at home — can make a huge difference,” Felger said.

Seven vendors there sold plants, flowers and seeds while organizations such as Mill Creek MetroParks Ford Nature Center, Operation Pollination, Ohio Division of Wildlife, The Ohio State University Extension and Wild You, and businesses (Sunstone Garden) answered questions from attendees of all ages and experience levels about exploring gardening, habitat restoration and conservation practices.

Besides homemade goods that were available for purchase, a partnership between FirstEnergy and YSU Legacy Forests gave out free shrubs — Witch Hazel and Spice Bush — or a Flowering Dogwood tree.

Breona Hall of Campbell picked up a free Witch Hazel shrub that she aims to plant in her backyard. She also purchased another plant, tea from Cambium Soulful Connection Inside Out, honey and held a butterfly in the tent of Sunstone Garden, which does garden consultation, planting and educational pop-ups.

In recognition of the many events that happen in the area, she said, “I’ve been bored so I just wanted to find stuff to do. I saw this on my Facebook, and I was, like, ‘Let me go see what it’s like and check it out.’ I’m also interested in plants.”

Elayne Bozick, a board member of Mahoning SWCD and district governor of the Rotary Club of Youngstown, pointed out that people could sign the Operation Pollination Community Partnership Resolution, which acknowledges support for the initiative and the work for the environment.

“Five years ago, when Rotary International declared protecting our environment to be one of our seven areas of focus for our global foundation area of funding, those of us who are nature lovers here in the Valley were thrilled about that because we’ve been watching things happen in our natural world change very rapidly, not for the good,” Bozick said.

The importance of protecting the environment encouraged Bozick to call local organizations and businesses to get involved with what became known as Operation Pollination. Pollinator Palooza grew out of the numerous meetings and debuted last year. Its success has caused plans for it to be moved to a larger area in 2027.

Events such as Saturday’s bring environmental awareness and the ability for positive action to individuals, organizers said.

“There’s an organization called Homegrown National Park, and the man who inspired that is a Dr. Douglas Tallamy. He believes that if we all do one little thing in our own backyard, we could recreate the habitat that has been eradicated from Central Mexico to Canada, all along the flyway (flight path for birds). We can create more square acreage of homegrown national parks than the existing national parks,” Bozick said.