The year-long series of special events to recognize Loyalsock Creek as the 2018 Pennsylvania River of the Year heads to the Endless Mountains at Worlds End State Park in Sullivan County on August 25 for the day-long Worlds End Day! celebration.
Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association in partnership with Department of Conservation and Natural Resources are bringing art, music, history, nature, and more to the banks of the Loyalsock Creek and to residents and visitors who cherish this 64-mile mile long natural resource.
“One of the gems of the Loyalsock Creek watershed is Worlds End State Park, a destination location for campers, hikers, paddlers, birders, and photographers. It is the perfect setting to provide opportunities for the public to connect with our Pennsylvania River of the Year,” explains Carol Parenzan, Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper and Executive Director of Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, Inc., the nominating organization for this waterway distinction.
The day is divided into three main parts. The morning will focus on The Art of Fly Fishing from 10:00 to Noon.
The Susquehanna Chapter Trout Unlimited, Fish and Boat Commission, and Lycoming College Clean Water Institute will provide hands-on angler education for all ages, to include fly tying, casting, and macroinvertebrate identification.
The afternoon is filled with a variety of programs.
Two-hour workshops from 2:00 to 4:00 include Nature and Wildlife Photography for Beginners with award-winning photographer Joseph Simons, Quick Sketch Poetry with Ann Keeler Evans, who authored the Loyalsock Creek blessing for the official River of the Year sojourn, Songwriting: Playing with Words and Notes with Adirondack folk musician Dan Berggren, Women in the Mountains with author and historian Peggy Lynn, and Hammered Dulcimer for Beginners with Grammy nominee Dan Duggan.
Additionally, during that same time period, families can rotate among a series of hands-on activities and explore Birds of the Watershed with Lycoming County Audubon, Freshwater Mussels with Bucknell University, Found Instruments and Nature Journaling with DCNR Worlds End State Park, and Creek Bugs and Other Slugs with Sullivan County Conservation District.
“Our goal for this afternoon of hands-on activities is to connect our future environmental stewards to our creek and watershed,” said Jane Swift, DCNR Worlds End State Park Environmental Education Specialist. “They are our future caretakers and we will be leaving this beautiful Loyalsock Creek – and all waterways in Pennsylvania – in their hands.”
Running concurrent with the workshops will be a Loyalsock Creek Watershed Small Business Spotlight, where local business owners will showcase their products and services and engage with the public. The spotlight will conclude at 6:00, when all ears will tune in to a concert along the creek.
The Jamcrackers of the Adirondacks from upstate New York, comprised of Dan Berggren, Dan Duggan, and Peggy Lynn, will bring music to the mountains through their original songs about mountain life and the environment.
“In 1998, this Pennsylvania girl migrated north to the Adirondacks to experience living in a cabin and working in a sparsely populated part of the country. One of my first Adirondack experiences was the music of the Jamcrackers,” explains Parenzan. “I quickly grew to love “Mountain Air,’ ‘One with the Water,’ ‘This Planet We Call Home,’ and ‘Power from Above.’
“Since returning to Pennsylvania in 2016 to serve as your Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper, it has been one of my goals to bring the music of the Jamcrackers here to those who call the Susquehanna River watershed home. The message is universal,” Parenzan added.
Concert attendees are encouraged to bring a picnic dinner to enjoy before or during the concert. McCarty Mercantile, in Hillsgrove, is offering special Picnic under the Pines take-out dinners for the event.
Please contact them at 570-924-3425 for details and to place an order.
All activities will take place in the day use area of Worlds End State Park. Please bring a lawn chair for the workshops and evening concert. In the event of bad weather, the evening concert will be moved to an indoor location.
Worlds End State Park is a 780-acre park situated in a narrow S-shaped valley of the Loyalsock Creek. It is located south of Forksville in Sullivan County.
This project was financed in part by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, using Environmental Stewardship Funds, under the administration of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation and administered by the Pennsylvania Organization of Watersheds and Rivers.
For more information, visit the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper website or contact Carol Parenzan at 570-768-6300 or send email to: midsusriver@gmail.com.
(Photo: The Eastern Hellbender pictured on the Loyalsock Creek logo is still waiting for the House to name it the official state symbol of clean water.)
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