The Arroyo Seco Earth Festival will feature 150 exhibits and 14 “theme villages.”

Smokey Bear may have been the pioneer, but these days there is also room for the Trash Dragon, Compost Connie and Recycle Ray, the Drip Dudes, Captain Hydro and the Water Bandit, and Tammy the Recycling Eagle.

All of these environmental characters, including the venerable Smokey, will be in the Earth Parade, which will start at 9 a.m. Saturday at Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena and proceed west to Orange Grove Boulevard and north to Brookside Park for the Arroyo Seco Earth Festival.

The parade, which will include just about every mode of transportation except cars powered by gasoline, will be led by Gabrielino Indians, who will also preside at the opening ceremonies at the park.

The festival, Pasadena’s observance of Earth Day, will have 150 exhibits and events at 14 “theme villages” along the Arroyo Seco, each focusing on a different problem, such as transportation, water and energy.

Clean-air vans will take people from one site to another, or visitors can tour the area on bicycle. There will also be bike races and clinics at the event, sponsored by the city of Pasadena and the Arroyo Seco Council.

Entertainment will include

characters and works created to promote environmental awareness. Exhibit coordinator Laura Lee Coles, an artist who specializes in what she calls “trash art,” invented the Trash Dragon, a 25-foot collage of trash bags and discards that made its debut at the Doo Dah Parade several years ago.

Other performers, such as Captain Hydro and the Water Bandit, will demonstrate the importance of water conservation. And there will be clowns and musicians at the festival, which will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.