Festival Features Lakeside Fun for the Whole Family

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The 2012 Lakes Festival commemorative poster features an Otsego Lake scene by plein air painter Mary Nolan titled “Approaching Storm.”

COOPERSTOWN, NY (07/12/2012)(readMedia)-- Live music, a mobile farmers' market, children's activities and a beer tasting are among the components that make this year's Otsego Lakes Festival an event diverse enough to entertain the entire family. The Festival returns to Lakefront Park this Saturday, July 14 from noon to 5 p.m. with a focus on family fun, in celebration of Otsego County's lakes.

Educational exhibits, hands-on workshops, presentations, and lake tours will all highlight the importance of protecting our waterways and ensuring good water quality throughout the region, while great food, music, and art will round out this family-friendly event. Ronny Raindrop® will stroll among festival goers, promoting natural resources, soil conservation, and erosion control along the way, and Richard J. deRosa will sign and sell copies of his book, "Hawthorn Hill Journal: Selected Essays."

Also joining the lineup for this year are Skip West and Brewery Ommegang. Skip West gives concerts which involve everyone in the fun, including many favorite traditional and popular folk songs. Skip also includes original music from his Parents' Choice Award-winning CD, "Blue Sky City," and his other three CDs for children and families. There is a great deal of participation in the form of singing and dancing and playing percussion instruments. West sings and plays guitar, banjo, mountain dulcimer, trombone, and sometimes kazoo. He will perform from 2-4 p.m. Brewery Ommegang will offer a beer tasting in addition to literature on water quality.

Kids (and adults) will be able to create original works of art on cloth, paper, and T-shirts using paints and real or rubber fish at the Cooperstown Art Association fish printing station. SUNY-Oneonta Biological Field Station interns will lead interactive sessions on aquatic plants, fishes, and insects in the expanded Kids' Tent, and children can make their own miniature waterwheels at the Hanford Mills Museum display.

Goats with Narcolepsy, a local sextet playing primarily jazz and Latin tunes, will perform at 1 p.m. The Mobile Cooperstown Farmers' Market will offer locally-grown produce as well as jams, honey, baked goods, and artisanal goods, and – as festival goers work up an appetite – they can choose from a number of food options including Panini sandwiches from Origins Café, made with local bread and cheeses, or a burger to benefit the local Envirothon.

The 2012 Lakes Festival commemorative poster features an Otsego Lake scene by plein air painter Mary Nolan titled "Approaching Storm." The poster, which will debut on July 14, was designed by Anna Lehr Mueser of Smithy Center for the Arts and will sell for $25, signed, and $15, unsigned. Proceeds from the sale of this year's poster will be split between the Lakes Festival and the Smithy.

Organized under the umbrella of Otsego County's Water Quality Coordinating Committee, the Otsego Lakes Festival offers all the components of a festive occasion – music, art, children's activities, good food and camaraderie – while providing valuable educational opportunities about lake protection and regional water quality programs from those who work to protect these resources. Personnel from WQCC member organizations will be on hand both to distribute literature and to discuss water quality issues one-on-one with interested parties.

The festival will also feature lake-related activities and entertainment, including:

  • Water Quality/Ecology Barge Tours by SUNY-Oneonta Biological Field Station staff at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
  • Aquatic life touch tanks and "show and tell"
  • Educational exhibits by lake-focused organizations
  • Commemorative Otsego Lake poster sales by Natura Productions
  • Festival foods by the Leatherstocking Envirothon Committee, Origins Café and Poparazzi

"We are delighted to announce that Tim Pokorny and Paul Lord of SUNY-Oneonta will host an Invasive Species and Stewardship Workshop this year," said Darla M. Youngs, member of the Lakes Festival Planning Committee and Otsego County Conservation Association executive director. "Their talk will include an overview of specific plants and animals that are currently a threat to Otsego Lake and other water bodies in the area."

Pokorny will introduce the concept of lake and watershed stewardship, identifying ways that individuals can actively participate in the protection of water bodies, particularly with regard to preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species. He will cover the various means by which exotics are spread and actions that individuals and families can take to prevent the transport and spread of invasives. Lord will then present a detailed session focusing on Hydrilla, an extremely aggressive exotic, including training on the identification of the plant and how to tell it apart from similarly-appearing native plants.

Also serving on the Lakes Festival Planning Committee this year are Ellen Pope of Otsego 2000 and Holly Waterfield of the SUNY-Oneonta Biological Field Station.

Confirmed exhibitors and vendors at the Otsego Lakes Festival thus far are: American Red Cross Cooperstown Branch, Canadarago Lake Improvement Association, Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership, Cooperstown Art Association, Cooperstown Farmers' Market, Richard J. deRosa, Friends of Glimmerglass State Park Inc., Goats with Narcolepsy, Great Brook Solar NRG LLC (South New Berlin), Hanford Mills Museum, J&J Silver-Wear Creations, Leatherstocking Envirothon, Natura Productions, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Origins Café, Otsego County Conservation Association, Otsego County Planning and Solid Waste Department, Otsego County Soil and Water Conservation District, Otsego Lake Association, Otsego Land Trust, Otsego 2000, Poparazzi, Project Buena Vista Inc., Robert Rogers Canoes, Smithy Center for the Arts, and SUNY-Oneonta Biological Field Station.

To date, Lakes Festival donors include: Aalsmeer Motel and Cottages, Bassett Healthcare Network, The Brookwood School, Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, S. Tier French, Goodyear Lake Association, Gozigian, Washburn and Clinton Attorneys, John Mitchell Real Estate, Suzanne Kingsley, Michel and Carol Manno, Otsego County Conservation Association, Otsego Lake Association, Otsego Land Trust, Smith Cooperstown, and Frank and Marie Stanley.

The OCWQCC was established in 1992 as a sub-committee of the Otsego County Soil and Water Conservation District. It is comprised of a diverse group of people representing state and local government agencies, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and lake associations. These members have technical expertise and knowledge and are committed to working to improve and maintain the quality of water in Otsego County through the reduction of nonpoint source pollution within its boundaries. The Otsego Lakes Festival is a biennial event designed to educate the public on the importance of water resource protection.

For more about the Otsego Lakes Festival, or for further details on sponsorship and volunteer opportunities, contact Darla M. Youngs at (607) 547-4488, visit the OCCA website, www.occainfo.org, or click here: http://occainfo.org/documents/LakesFestivalParticipants2012_004.pdf.

Otsego Lakes Festival Agenda

Noon – Festival begins. Exhibits, vendors and beer tasting ongoing.

1 p.m. – Musical performance, Goats With Narcolepsy

1:30 p.m. – BFS Ecology Barge Tour

2-4 p.m. – Musical performance, Skip West

TBA – Invasive Species & Stewardship Workshop

3:30 p.m. – BFS Ecology Barge Tour

5 p.m. – Festival ends.