St. Albert's annual effort to bring trees to the Sturgeon returns for its 10th year this weekend, and you can celebrate by dressing up as a bird.
May 9 is the 18th annual Clean and Green Riverfest in St. Albert – a free public event where some 400 city residents will come out to clean up and plant trees along the Sturgeon River.
It's also the date of the city's first-ever International Migratory Bird Day celebration organized by the Big Lake Environment Support Society (BLESS).
The bird event is a way for BLESS to get more involved in the community and to get people excited about birds, says group president Alan Henry.
Henry invited kids young and old to come down to the BLESS shelter at the end of Rodeo Drive next Saturday morning to learn about migratory birds and construct their own paper bird costumes, complete with wings, beak and tail.
"They can be any kind of bird they want."
Helping out will be Jaynne Carre of the Wildbird General Store, who will discuss the different migratory habits of birds whilst dressed as a bohemian waxwing.
"It's my alter-ego," she said of the costume.
The whole flock of kids – possibly led by Mayor Nolan Crouse – will flap along the Red Willow Trail to the BLESS viewing platform in a mock migration at 10 a.m., Henry said. Once they've viewed some migratory birds on Big Lake using spotting scopes, they'll fly back to the shelter to play on the nearby playground before heading off to the Riverfest event downtown.
Henry hoped to get about 100 people out at the event.
The migration runs from 9 to 11 a.m. on May 9.
Pick trash, plant trees
Riverfest revs up later that afternoon along the Sturgeon River behind St. Albert Centre, said Nicole Synowec, recreation projects associate for the city and co-ordinator of the event.
The city has brought in TD Canada Trust as the event's title sponsor this year to better promote it.
The main part of the Riverfest is the annual shoreline cleanup where residents pick up trash from the Sturgeon River's shores or a park of their choice, Synowec said. Bags and gloves will be provided.
Residents are advised to flag any sharp or heavy items for disposal by public works personnel, and to stay out of the Sturgeon River.
Right next to the cleanup is the Environmental Fair, where residents will get to learn about the environment from groups such as the Riverlot 56 Natural Area Society and BLESS. Kids (old and young) can get their face painted, make their own banana smoothies using a bike-powered blender, and snack on free hot-dogs courtesy of St. Albert Centre.
In addition to taking in free performances from local singers Sydney Coady, Rachel Matichuk, Hazel Cavida and Holly Riehl, guests can also fill out a survey on what they learned at Riverfest for a chance to win prizes such as a one-hour gardening session with Jim Hole, Synowec said.
Right next to the fair will be the 10th annual River Edge Enhancement Project (REEP) tree planting – part of an ongoing project to improve the biodiversity of the Sturgeon by restoring its riparian vegetation.
The REEP committee has mustered some 405 aspen, white spruce, saskatoon, wolf willow, tamarack, birch and other native saplings to plant next weekend, says Brandon Handfield, chair of the REEP committee.
"It's one of the largest plantings we've ever done."
Instead of starting a new planting site as they've done in past years, this year volunteers will be filling in the gaps between sites created back in 2007 behind Canadian Tire to create one long strip of vegetation, Handfield said.
Two of the trees planted this year will be full-sized ones planted by the winners of the Riverfest garbage can art contests.
Students from seven schools have painted 10 garbage cans under the theme of "Land, Air and Water" as part of Riverfest and put them on display at St. Albert Place, Synowec said. The two schools whose cans get the most votes by May 3 will get to plant one of two large trees at the REEP event.
All Riverfest activities happen behind St. Albert Centre along the Sturgeon from 2 to 5 p.m. Visit stalbert.ca/spruceup for details.
