[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=vGAArAIKb0Q]
The Beaver festival yesterday was a rousing success on so many levels I am still listing them in my head. We made great connections with the community, woed many friends, found some unexpected helpers, and had were once again far too busy working on our individaul “trees” to catch a glimpse of the festival forest! Carolyn Jones’ fantastic article in the chronicle brought interested visitors from San Mateo, Santa Rosa and even Davis, There was channel 5 coverage and a nice photographer from the Record, and best of all there was a SECOND MINK SIGHTING!!!! During one of Jon’s much praised beaver tours he (and a 100 of his closest friends) actually saw the mother mink.
The silent auction was an excellent fundraiser and gave everyone a great opportunity to snap up some really excellent gifts and certificates. We even had a bidding war on a few items, including the Safari West Tour. Lory and Linda helped cooler heads prevail. Our membership table was even a bigger hit than last year and everybody who was anybody wanted a beaver tshirt of their very own. Thank goodness Kathi volunteered to help Linda at the membership table. Author Penny Weigand did some book signings and our child authors came by after swim practice to help out! So many kids painted tiles we had a hard time figuring out how to get them home. Thank you Fro and Erika for helping our budding artists. My beaver information booth was constantly full of questions, (thanks jean for the relief) and the new beaver skulls were a huge hit. Thank you to all our remarkable vendors and displays, and our truly outstanding group of musicians.
Did all this help beavers? You bet it did. Not just our wonderful beavers, but beavers in general. Every single person there, who looked at those mink photos and toured the creek, now knows first hand the definition of a Keystone Species. We love what we understand, and Worth A Dam did an excellent job making visitors understand the pivitol role of beavers in the habitat.
Two favorite tiles out of many loved ones:
