Let the media promotion begin! The hard-working salmon spends an awful long time banging into the rock before it finally succeeds. And that is exactly how I have felt about getting attention for our whopping festival this year. Well, let this be the first sign that the tides are changing.

Beaver Festival gets new home at Susana Park

MARTINEZ, Calif. – After 10 years of annual appearances at a downtown area that became known as Beaver Park, the Martinez Beaver Festival is moving to Susana Park, organizer Heidi Perryman said.

It’s date has been shifted to the end of June, as well.

And in a fortuitous coincidence, a family of beavers have moved into the creek that runs near the park, she said.

“The 11th Beaver Festival will be full of surprises,” Perryman said.

“The improved venue has boosted interested in the festival, too,” Perryman said. This year’s edition will have more than 50 nature exhibits, making it the largest event since it was begun as a way to celebrate,.  rather than condemn, the beavers that had been building a dam in Alhambra Creek in the city’s downtown shopping district.

Why is the festival so much bigger really? Is it just the nicer park? Is it the cumulative effect of being around for a decade finally making people feel like you’re for real? Is it because it’s earlier in the year and fewer people are on vacation? I just had to notify chairs for affairs yesterday that we’ll be needing twice as many tables as usual!

But the beaver dam and the nature exhibits aren’t the only things eventgoers will see.

Amy G. Hall, a noted chalk artist, will be creating a beaver-themed illustration on the concrete in the park.

Hall is a lifelong fan of beavers, and her home town, Napa, has some, too. Her chalk painting will be of a beaver pond, and it illustrates how beavers benefit other wildlife.

Children attending the festival will be invited to pick up some colored chalk and create their own artwork in spaces near where Hall is working.

HURRAY! Great job plugging Amy. Honestly in September I was worried that she and I might be the only one in the park that day. Now I’m starting to think that might not be so bad.

Ben Goldfarb, an award-winning environmental writer who covers wildlife conservation, marine science and public lands management, will be launching his book, “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Lives of Beavers and Why They Matter.”

He will read excerpts on the festival stage, and Chapter 6 focuses on California, beginning and ending with the story of the Martinez beavers.

The book is published by Chelsea Green, and will be released at the end of the month.

No more pre-orders. It’s out. I just got a notice from Amazon that its on its way. Hurray!

The festival also has inspired the west coast premiere of Sara Koenigsberg’s documentary, “Beaver Believers,” which looks at the animals in light of climate change.

The premiere will take place before the festival, Thursday, Jan. 28, at the Empress Theatre in Vallejo.

Koenigsberg and her students from Whitman College came to Martinez in 2013 to interview Perryman before filming the festival that year. The documentary also looks at how beaver damming could help prevent water loss in the west in addition to telling Martinez’s beaver story.

TAfter the article there is  a nice section of how to buy tickets for the premiere!

 

While many new things are happening this year, those who have visited the festival in the past will see many familiar and popular things, from a day-long musical lineup that includes bluegrass and Dixieland bands, a nature-themed silent auction, the return of beaver tours and special activities for children.

This year, the first 100 youngsters to arrive at the festival will get to build a “beaver pond” of their own, by collecting wildlife stickers from exhibitors and learning how beavers help other animals, Perryman said.

This sticker adventure will mirror Hall’s beaver pond mural design, she said.

While Perryman praised the previous venue as a park that “served us well for a decade alongside our original beaver habitat, she said, “This new home is ideal for the everything we’ve become./” And since the new venue comes with its own dam a short walk away, she added, “it’s like the beavers showed us the way!

The Martinez Beaver Festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 30 at Susana Park, at the intersection of Estudillo and Susana streets. Admission is free. Those interested may visit the website www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress.

Whooohoo! It used to weirdly bug me when reporters used my wording from a press release with their name as if THEY had written it. Now I love it. That’s growth, right? There are good things in the works and hopefully the East Bay Times article will follow soon.

Oh and just to keep me feeling relevant, I got a distressed email yesterday from a woman looking for help defend beavers to her HOA in a very large, notoriously unfriendly beaver state. Because of this website my beaver rolodex is large and growing every day, so I was able to introduce her to a local ally who agreed to help her going forward.

Put THAT in a mission statement.