A rally for clean air organized by the Canary Coalition will culminate in Asheville on Friday, Aug. 26, with a benefit concert by Steve Earl. Other performers include Larry and Jenny Keel of Natural Bridge and Steve (Big Daddy) McMurray of Acoustic Syndicate.

A 24-hour, 100-mile relay will lead up to the Air Aid rally. The relay starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, at Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Volunteers are biking, running and walking segments of the route, which travels down U.S. 441 to the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway outside Cherokee, and follows the parkway all the way to Asheville.

Avram Friedman, executive director of the Canary Coalition, is pitching the relay as a “civil rights march,” based on the premise that clean air is a right being violated by both polluting power companies and government leaders who continue to promote fossil fuels and fail to pass laws that would stop air pollution.

The relay will turn into a group march through downtown Asheville, leaving from Mission Hospital at 6:10 p.m. and traveling up Biltmore Avenue to the Orange Peel.

Before rocking out for clean air, a few special speakers will make statements. Thomas Rain Crowe, an author and poet who lives in Jackson County, will read a poem composed for the event. Crowe, author of the recently published back-to-the-land memoir Zoro’s Field, is the recipient of numerous awards for his socially expressive poetry developed under apprenticeship from some of the great Beat poet greats.

John Edwards, former senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee, and Al Gore have both composed statements that will be read at Air Aid.

“This cause is so important. Our children and grandchildren are counting on us to leave them a world that is safe for them to live in, and they deserve to experience the true beauty of the Smoky Mountain region,” Edwards said in his statement.

An excerpt of Gore’s statement says, “Organizations such as the Canary Coalition are leading the charge to address the global environmental crisis we now face.”

Speakers at the Air Aid concert will include local and state political leaders, air quality activists and the former chairman of the American Lung Association.

Tickets for AirAid are $20. For tickets call 866.468.7630.

For more information about the event, go to www.airaid.info or canarycoalition.org.