This spring weekend is one to revel in Earthly pleasures — and find out some new ways to nurture the blue planet.
That’s thanks to the fact that Earth Day — after having its official 40th anniversary Thursday — is still going on, with a pair of festivals and a walk in the woods still to come.
First comes the North Olympic AmeriCorps Earth Day fair on City Pier in Port Angeles on Saturday.
A team of 40 AmeriCorps volunteers from Clallam and Jefferson counties are throwing the party, with live music and plentiful hands-on activities for people of all ages.
Recycle crafts
Fair-goers can try all manner of new things, such as crochet old plastic bags into new, tougher totes and use recyclables to create a mural on site, said Karen Toth, an AmeriCorps team leader.
That sudden-art project may be fueled in part by the plastic bottles people leave behind on the pier, Toth added.
Children and adults are also invited to pause and paint ceramic fish at the Arthur D. Feiro Marine Life Center table.
This project, part of the “Fish on the Fence” public-art installation outside The Landing mall, is “all about linking art and science,” said coordinator Betsy Wharton.
Meanwhile, the city of Port Angeles will have volunteer “master composters” on the pier, promised city waste reduction specialist Helen Freilich.
“Kids can learn how composting works and see live worms,” she said. “And they will get a surprise to take home.”
Also at the fair, grown-ups can learn more about saving money and energy by weatherizing their homes and find out about adding solar panels to their rooftops.
And everybody is invited to visit the pier’s two seed-planting stations, where they can make pots out of newspaper, then insert those pots into the earth where they will biodegrade, leaving the plant to grow up.
Food vendors and many other displays will also share City Pier during Saturday’s fair from noon to 4 p.m., said AmeriCorps volunteer and Earth Day organizer Paige Boyer.
The sheer variety of things to see and do “is going to be awesome,” she said.
Boyer is helping to orchestrate a family fun run/walk on Port Angeles’ Waterfront Trail Saturday at 8 a.m.
Registration is free, and participants of any age are encouraged to sign up for either the 5-kilometer or the 10K run after 7:15 a.m. under the tent at Hollywood Beach.
This is AmeriCorps’ second Earth Day event in Port Angeles, and the volunteers hope to make it an annual party.
West Twin River hike
Also Saturday morning, those hungry for a hike can meet members of the North Olympic Sierra Club chapter at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St., at 9 a.m.
Their destination is West Twin River, in the Olympic National Forest about an hour’s drive west of Port Angeles.
The moderate hike will cover one or two miles of woodland and riverbank, with plenty of time for exploring.
If conditions are right, the return trip will include a stop at the North Point Lookout for views of the Olympic Mountains and Sol Duc River valley.
For details and to RSVP, e-mail Sierra Club outings leader Ben Greuel at ben.greuel@sierraclub.org or phone 206-378-0114, ext. 319.
Free fair on Sunday
Sunday brings the finale of Earth Day festivities: another free fair at Wild Birds Unlimited in Gardiner.
Wild Birds co-owner Christie Lassen said live music, wildlife rehabilitators, a demonstration honeybee hive and the “eagle whisperer,” aka Tim Brown, are a few of the attractions.
Brown, who works with injured eagles in the Seattle area, has appeared on “Good Morning, America,” Lassen said.
“He called me out of the blue,” she added. “He’s going to give a presentation on eagle rescue” during Sunday’s activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Northwest Raptor Center’s Jaye and Gary Moore will bring in a few of their rehabilitated birds of prey, while many other local groups will introduce their Earth-friendly wares.
Among them are Around Again, a recycled-furniture store in Sequim, the Tribal Edge Primal Arts Training Center of Blyn, Jefferson County Beach Watchers, Agnew’s Lazy J Farm and Sequim’s Alder Wood Bistro, which serves organic, local lunches.
And if you’re inspired to get a tattoo, artists from the Kaboom salon of Sequim will be on hand offering what they call Earth-friendly-ink tattoos.
New to Wild Birds’ event this year are the international organization Save the Frogs!, Lassen said. Supplying music for the whole day are Cort Armstrong and Friends, a folk and bluegrass outfit.
“This keeps evolving. It’s become a festival,” Lassen said of Wild Birds’ Earth Day gathering, now in its fifth year.
Wild Birds Unlimited in Gardiner is 10 miles east of Sequim and some 20 miles southwest of Port Townsend, at 275953 U.S. Highway 101. The store can be reached at 360-797-7100.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
