Ready to celebrate Earth Day? The big day isn’t until April 22, but celebrations have already begun — I went to Santa Monica’s Earth Day on the Promenade on Saturday, for example. Lots of fun, free stuff’s planned across the U.S., so if you haven’t made plans yet, put one of these in your calendar:

Green Apple Festival (all over). Now in its third year, this fest has expanded to 8 cities: Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles (more accurately, Santa Monica), Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

The highlight of these events are the live musical acts, but speakers and enviro-orgs that want to help you go green will have a presence too. The fests happen between April 18 – 20; check the website for the deets on your city.

New York‘s getting an entire week of fun planned by Earth Day New York. A two-day EarthFair, with exhibits from enviro companies and orgs, begins April 18 at Grand Central Terminal.

Then on April 22, get ready to network and mingle with fellow enviro New Yorkers at EarthNight, happening at from 6 pm – 10 pm at The Park, 118 10th Ave. This more informal evening, put together by Earth Day New York and Green Drinks, will also feature an eco fashion show.

In addition to the Green Apple Festival happening in its town, Chicago has bicyclists teaming up with Sophic Records for the Rock and Ride Earth Day Benefit Concert, starting at 7 pm on April 20 at Double Door, 1572 N Milwaukee Ave. For $10, you can support a car-free bicycle culture and rock out.

Los Angeles has green events planned everywhere from Burbank to Manhattan Beach between now and Earth Day. But on Earth Day itself, the place to be is at Wilshire Center Earth Day — Car Free Day, where Michael Franti will be performing along with other musical acts. There’ll be booths and games and lots of other good stuff.

If you can’t wait until April 22, head over to a special LA Green Drinks Earth Night event happening this Saturday, April 19, at Whole Life Times’ offices, 1200 S. Hope St., Suite 300.

Okay — I only covered the top 3 biggest cities in the U.S., but lots more events happening all over can be found on Envirolink’s calendar. What will you be doing April 22?

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