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CORVALLIS - Food, music and an organic planting party are among the highlights of Oregon State University's annual "Hoo Haa Celebration" on Friday, April 22, at the university's organic farm.

The event is free and open to the public and transportation is available. Vans will depart from the OSU Bookstore at the campus Memorial Union every 15 minutes to the fields, starting at 4 p.m. and ending at 7 p.m.

The celebration, sponsored by OSU's Organic Growers Club, starts at 3 p.m. with farm tours, set-up and local children gathering to plant a variety of vegetable crops. At 5 p.m., planting continues, accompanied by free food and live music. At 7 p.m., a bonfire and hoedown begins. Pets and musical instruments are welcome.

The farm is located on Highway 34, just east of Corvallis. To reach the farm, take Highway 34 east from Corvallis and take the third left after passing Trysting Tree Golf Club onto a small dirt road. Farm access is about a half-mile east of the Willamette River and is marked by large compost piles on the east side of the farm road.

Directions are also available at http://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu/organic_grower. This year's "Hoo Haa Celebration," the university's second, is part of OSU's Earth Week celebration, which is part of the worldwide observance of Earth Day each April 22.

The first Earth Day in 1970 rallied more than 20 million Americans from around the country to environmental issues. The event spread globally and on the 30th anniversary in 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link people around the world. Now, more than 5,000 environmental groups around the world participate, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in nearly 200 countries.