On the 11th of August, Snohomish Conservation District was all over the county at local fairs from the Index Art Festival, to the Warm Beach Summerfest, to the Stillaguamish Festival of the River and Pow Wow, to share information about water quality, stormwater runoff, the Stillaguamish PIC, rain barrels, and Lawns to Lettuce.

And, the following weekend, on the 18th of August, we were represented by Jill from our Lawns to Lettuce / Project Harvest program at The Kind Fest in Snohomish at Lord's Hill Park. Jill is also responsible for our weekly gleans (aka grabbing the extras/leftovers) from the Sunday Everett Farmers Market and now Hazel Blue Acres in Silvana.

Warm Beach Summerfest

The Warm Beach Summerfest is a delightful community fair, complete with home-baked goods, bingo, chicken poop bingo, and more fun activities for all ages. We joined in the fun with information about the Lower Stillaguamish PIC Project [link to the project page, please] and one of the easiest ways we can all help keep fecal contaminants out of our waterways - scooping our pet's poop. Young and old fair-goers played the poop toss game to win prizes, demonstrating their expert skills at scooping fake poo, bagging it, and tossing the bags into the garbage, where they belong. One young boy had so much fun he came back later with friends and they all scooped fake poo together! Who knew that scooping poop could be so much fun?

Stillaguamish Festival of the River

Hosted by the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, the Festival of the River and Pow Wow doesn't fail to provide education, cultural arts, and interest for attendees from all over the county and state. Our booth sits in the educational tent where many people - young and old - come to learn about the environment, do crafts, and enjoy respite from the heat. And, in this year's case, they also were protected from some serious rain storms!

Index Arts Festival

One of this festival's goals is to support the development of best practices, and improved communication, understanding and cooperation among individuals and organizations promoting art education, instruction, demonstration and awareness. To that end, we brought out a truck full of rain barrels to help educate attendees about the effects of stormwater runoff and how rain barrels can help save water for gardens and prevent runoff.

The Kind Fest

The second annual Kind Fest was a gathering of leaders, businesses, organizations, and artists who are paving the path for creating a kinder world! It was a day of inspiration, education, and empowerment so that attendees can be the change they want to see in the world! Jill interacted with around 130 kids and adults for our rainwater exercise. We also gave out fresh donated produce to fair participants. According to event sponsors about 1100 attended overall.

This photo summarizes the feeling we get from most of these fairs and events.

Here are some more photos from the events. We appreciate everyone we meet's interest in protecting our natural resources and implementing new ideas learned at their properties, communities, schools and places of worship. We are all in this together.

Come see our booth at the Evergreen State Fair from now until September 3rd!