BEEC invites Public to Festival of the Hill

The public is invited to celebrate the nature of summer on Sunday, June 28 at the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center (BEEC). The Center, situated on a farm in West Brattleboro, has trails through fields and forest and a panoramic view from the summit of Heifer Hill. The BEEC Board of Directors invites the public to enjoy the recent improvements to the trails and grounds with a day of festivities.

Events are scheduled from noon until 7 pm. beginning with a “bring your own picnic” lunch, and music provided by Marcy Gregoire’s Under the Tree Music Company. Marcy’ s humor, catchy rhythms, and enthusiasm transform the audience, especially children, into the “music company,” and Marcy brings a wide variety of instruments for the children to play, including a cello, violin, and guitar.

At 1 pm, storyteller Davis Bates will perform. Davis, a delightful and engaging storyteller, has been charming audiences for over twenty years. His performances include a mixture of family, Native American, international and regional stories and songs. They speak of empowerment, history, spirit and the environment.

From 3 - 5 pm, ecologist Tom Wessels, founding director of the master’s degree program in Conservation Biology at Antioch, and author of Reading the Forested Landscape, A Natural History of New England, will lead a walk to interpret the dynamic history of this piece of land. On this walk Tom will help participants recognize evidence of the landscape’s agricultural and forestry history, as well as historical storm events.

At 5 pm, all are invited to a free chicken barbeque. The barbeque will be accompanied by a variety of side dishes, salads and beverages. Diners are invited to bring their own wine or beer. Music will be provided by Lisa Brande and Mark Trichka, the duo known as Easy Street. For over twenty years Brande and Trichka have been playing swing, bluegrass, cajun and zydeco, rockabilly and honkytonk and popular music, on fiddle, mandolins, guitars and voices.

Informal activities will take place throughout the day, and include kite flying on the hill, games, and scavenger hunts. The trails will be open all day, as usual, and self-guided interpretive booklets are available to introduce hikers to the trees and the wildlife habitat of BEEC.

The Bonnyvale Environmantal Education Center is located on Bonnyvale Road in West Brattleboro, 2.2 miles from Route 9. For those who can’t make it on June 28, the trails and grounds are open from dawn until dusk every day. For more information, please visit www.beec.org, or call 257-5785.