GREENFIELD — The city’s celebration of Earth Day isn’t new, but the parade is.

The event on Monday, April 21, is expected to begin at noon with a Joyful Noise Puppet Parade when the Expandable Brass Band strolls from the Greenfield Common down Main Street with person-size puppets and a police escort. People are encouraged to bring costumes, masks and stilts to join in the fun.

At Energy Park from 12:30 to 3 p.m., there will be at least 20 tables staffed by representatives of local environmental groups, as well as Stone Soup Cafe’s pay-what-you-can meal for lunch. State Sen. Jo Comerford, Greenfield Mayor Ginny Desorgher and the Sunrise Movement’s Saara Rathod are slated to speak on stage. Short speeches will be punctuated by performances by local musicians such as Annie Hassett, Sarah Pirtle, the West County Climate Circle Singers and Ben Grosscup. There will also be an area for children to play creatively.

“It’s vitally important to ... answer this call from the Earth,” said Sandra Boston, a member of the Interfaith Council of Franklin County and Greening Greenfield, which are sponsoring this event alongside Greenfield Cooperative Bank.

Boston said she participates in the annual Earth Day celebration because she took part in the original one when she lived in Princeton, New Jersey. U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wisconsin, proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970, and hired young activist Denis Hayes to be the national coordinator.

“It is the same fight,” Boston said. “We’re one planet.”

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.