The Haw River Festival is a traveling, solar-powered, environmental education extravaganza for children and communities in the Haw River Watershed. Educators, performers and river lovers, both young and old, work together to help fourth graders from the area discover the wonders of the river. In small groups led by seasoned volunteers, the students visit a variety of hands-on stations along the river banks. The interdisciplinary program features activites to demonstrate environmental concepts, stream monitoring, cultural history, river walks, wildlife, music and storytelling. The Haw River Festival crew are folks from the community including environmental educators, scientists, storytellers, musicians, artists, parents, woodsmen and activists. They nurture in the children a sense of wonder about the natural world and to foster a sense of connection and stewardship for the Haw River watershed. The Festival Grand Finale occured on Saturday, May 13, 2000 with a wonderful combination of art, music, storytelling, and many other activities at the old Bynum Mill yard. Haw River Festival founder and storyteller Louise Kessel, was on hand selling art on the hill. Critter artist Clyde Jones, along with other Chatham County artists, donated art for a silent auction. Chatham County Commisioner Gary Phillips, who was on hand to auction off the critter Clyde created, joined an admiring audience watching Clyde and his helpers create a critter. Artist Lyle Estill was on hand with one of his giant chess sets. The Raging Grannys reminded us that you're never too old, or too young to learn how to recyle and reuse. The festival also included the now famous puppeteers, Jan Burger and and Donovan Zimmerman, along with the help of numerous volunteers, who put on a new show with live puppets. The end result of not taking care of the land has disastrous results, just like in real life. In the puppet show, recovering the land and going back to the way things were is much easier than it is in real life. The moral to the story, of course, is to not pollute to begin with. This lesson is all too often learned too late. Early education is what it's all about, which is exactly what this festival accomplishes. Working with wild clay from the Haw River area and painting with nature's paint were a couple of the activities available at the Festival. Massage therapy was available for folks who wanted to relax. Making necklaces was this person's way of relaxing and creating at the same time. Other entertainment included Mitch and the Hurricanes and the Chicken Bridge Memorial String Band. If you would like to play a part in this annual experience, just call or e-mail the Haw River Festival Coordinator (and the person responsible for the first several paragraghs in this story), Dorrit Geshuri at (919) 545-0966 or dorrit@mindspring.com. Home | Overview | About Us | Ads | Art | Businesses | Carrboro and Area Stuff | Downtown Carrboro Map | Events | Prices | Restaurants | UniqueOrn Enterprises