Saturday Earth Festival Schedule ‘Jam Packed’
MILFORD—The Otsego County Conservation Association will host its annual Earth Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 20 at Milford Central School. Earth Festival is an environmentally focused interactive event featuring exhibits, workshops, vendors, food, and entertainment, all with a fun, earth-friendly twist.
“We have more than 40 confirmed vendors and exhibitors, including Tickled Pink BBQ, Nature’s Canvas Face Painting, Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society, Origins Café, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and many more,” said OCCA Assistant Director Shelby MacLeish. “This year, we are pleased to announce that the Utica ZooMobile is joining us, we will have live music by The Bard Rocks, and the OCCA Board of Directors is hosting a basket raffle.”
According to MacLeish, in addition to the many exhibitors and vendors, the Earth Festival schedule is jam-packed with workshops, a maker space, kids’ activities, a seed exchange and a clothing and gear swap, a morning service project, and a morning bird walk led by Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society members. The full schedule is as follows:
- 8:00 a.m.: DOAS Bird Walk
- 8:30 a.m.: Garden-Based Service Project at Milford Central School
- 10 a.m.: “Repurposing Everyday Items into Crafts” with the Milford Envirothon Team
- 10:30 a.m.: “Enjoying Your Woodlot” with Stacey Kazacos
- 11 a.m.: Music with The Bard Rocks
- 11 a.m.: “School-Yard Ecology,” an outdoor walk with Jeff O’Handley
- 11:30 a.m.: “How a Net Zero Carbon Household Makes Sense” with Susan O’Handley
- 11:30 a.m.: “Tick Talk: Don’t Let Them Keep You Inside” with Celia Oxley
- Noon: Utica ZooMobile
- 12:30 p.m.: “Making a DIY Spotted Lantern Fly Trap” with Sarah Coney and the Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership
- 12:30 p.m.: “Herbs 101: Introduction to Herbs” with Gert Coleman
- 12:40 p.m.: “Birds and Climate Change” with Susan O’Handley
- 1:30 p.m.: “Birds, Butterflies, Bees and Beauty: Why Plant Native Plants?” with Celia Oxley and Mary Ellen Calta
Visitors to Earth Festival throughout the day can enjoy the seed swap, clothing and gear exchange, vendors, exhibitors, and children’s activities, as well as free ice cream sponsored by Stewart’s Shops.
“OCCA is grateful to our sponsors—Andela Products, Stewart’s Shops, NYCM Insurance, Leatherstocking Region Federal Credit Union, Bruce Hall, the New York, Susquehanna &Western Railway, and Toscana of Oneonta—who have helped make this event free and open to everyone,” MacLeish said.
For more information about Earth Festival, contact MacLeish (607) 547-4488 or coordinator@occainfo.org