Earth Day activities planned in Whitefish, Kalispell

Celebrate Earth Day Saturday, April 27, with a free family-friendly festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Whitefish Middle School.

The fifth annual Flathead Valley Earth Day festival will feature close to 50 booths hosted by local nonprofits organizations, conservation groups, government agencies and green businesses. Each booth will have a hands-on activity, craft or demonstration for families to learn about a wide range of Earth Day-themed topics.

Booth activities include planting seeds and starts, crafts out of recycled materials, practicing catch and release fly fishing, mastering Leave No Trace camping principles, making art from natural materials, team-building games and sack races, solar power and electric car demonstrations. There will be booths about protecting rivers and clean water, wildlife conservation, recycling and reducing waste, agricultural lands and local food, climate change, trail building and maintenance, public land access, and more.

All are encouraged to go green for the day. Bike or walk to the event if you can. There will be a bike rodeo for kids to practice safe biking, and a bike maintenance station for free tune-ups and safety checks. Bring your own reusable coffee mug and fill it up at the Montana Coffee Traders table for free. There will be recycling and compost bins to encourage a Zero Waste event.

Attendees will receive a punch card as they arrive to get stickers from the booths they visit. Anyone who visits 10 different booths can redeem the card for a sweet treat at the event, sponsored by Fleur Bake Shop.

Get-a-Grip’s rock-climbing wall and air jumper will be free for the day for the more adventurous youngsters.

Local food trucks will be on site and enjoy live music at the Earth Day stage. Here’s a partial list of scheduled events:

10:30 a.m.: Live music by The Ukendoers

11 a.m.: Wild bird show by Wild Wings Recovery Center

11:30 a.m.: Performance by the Crown of the Continent Choir

Noon to 2 p.m.: Live music by The Woodstock Trio

This lively, educational, fun-filled event is a chance to celebrate all things green in the Flathead. The festival is made possible by Citizens for a Better Flathead, Whitefish School District, Glacier National Park Lodges, Valley Recycling, Whitefish Credit Union, Fleur Bake Shop, and Farm Hands Nourish the Flathead.

For more information, including the schedule and the full lists of booths, visit www.flatheadcitizens.org/earth-day/ and Facebook.

Lone Pine State Park’s Earth Day celebration will be held from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 28.

An extravaganza for all ages, there will be multiple kids’ activities, a kid’s scavenger hunt, an adult birding workshop and a noxious weed pull.

From 12:30 to 2 p.m. the kids’ scavenger hunt will take place and from 3:30 to 5: p.m. participants will hit the trails to pull noxious weeds to leave room for the native plants.