THE WILDFLOWER FESTIVAL RETURNS
Riverbend Park was bustling Saturday as folks came out to enjoy the spring weather at the Feather River Recreation and Park District’s 13th Annual Wildflower and Nature Festival.
“This is an amazing, wonderful community event. After all the catastrophes we’ve been through it’s a great spring kick off. It’s nice to be out with people in the fresh air and sunshine and to support the community’s economy and small businesses,” said Kelly Sinn, of Loma Rica who was attending the event with friends from Sacramento and Blue Canyon.
Friends and families strolled the park, some
walking their dogs, while enjoying live music from the Strung Nugget Gang and Feather River Gypsies while enjoying food from one of a half dozen vendors including K&P Kettle Corn and Spun Organic Cotton Candy.
“It just feels good to be outside with people and there’s so much to see here — beautiful jewelry, so many crafts and home cured olives. We’re just really enjoying everything,” said Christine Myers who was enjoying the Saturday outing with her mother Lonnie Steadman.
About 20 local resource groups and service organizations including the Lake Oroville Area Garden Club, Feather River Nature Center, African American Family and Cultural Center, Ampla Health and the Feather River Lapidary Society were busy providing information, educational resource materials and swag to attendees.
“It’s great to be out with people after 2020, to see a community return to a little bit of normalcy. We’re glad to be here providing information and resources to women about free breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services,” said Candy Pahua, community health worker with Every Woman Counts.
“It’s great to be out with people after 2020, to see a community return to a little bit of normalcy.”
— Candy Pahua, community health worker with Every Woman Counts, which participated in the Wildflower and Nature Festival.
New to the festival’s offerings this year were kayak tours of the Feather River offered by the Forebay Aquatic Center which appeared to be popular as folks with advanced reservations stood in line waiting for the shuttle to the Feather River Hatchery where the tours started.
There were also activities for kids sponsored by Artists of Rivertown and
Oroville Rocks. The festival opened at 10 a.m. and within the first 90 minutes more than 100 kids had dunked brushes into paint to create painted rocks, according to Missy Griffiths, administrator of Oroville Rocks Facebook page.
“The whole idea of the group, and we now have 6,000 members, is to find a rock, paint a rock and hide a rock for someone else to
find. They are hidden all over town. People pick them up and keep them or hide them in another place. It’s really just all about bring a smile to people and sharing love and kindness,” said Griffiths.
Business was brisk for most of the nearly 20 local goods vendors who set up shop at the festival. The purveyors offered a diverse range of goods including natural handcrafted soaps, CBD products, jewelry, custom wreaths for every season, clothing and art and crafts.
“We launched our business in 2020 so this is the first time we’ve been at the festival. Business today has been good so far. We’re glad to be here,” said John Mitchell of 2B Renewed.
By midday FRRPD staff were directing cars to overflow parking as attendance increased.
“In years past we’ve had an average of about 4,000 people attend. Of course, with COVID, it’s a whole new ball game and we weren’t sure what the turnout would be but, it’s been incredible. There’s been a steady flow of people coming in all day and when I go to check on vendors many have been so busy, they haven’t been able to talk to me. It’s great and we’ll be back again next year bigger and better,” said Victoria Anton, FRRPD executive administrator.