- Times Leader
First Posted:
The Susquehanna River can be as big a part of a Wyoming Valley resident’s life as anything else, but are people really paying attention to all it has to offer and how to better protect it?
Chalkfest coordinator Jill Price hopes to make that the norm, starting with influencing the young.
She makes regular trips to the River Common with her son Gus. The pair gets takeout from downtown and sits in the amphitheater to watch the sun set.
“We were traveling, and someone asked him what his favorite thing to eat was and he said ‘take-out at the river,’ ” Price said. “That’s what this is all about, exposing kids to this now so that it becomes a regular part of their lives and is something free and accessible all the time that they can make positive memories at, rather than something they just come to for events.”
For the third year, Chalkfest will take place on the River Common from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 6. This year will bring a bonus in the form of Hydromania, a hands-on program that will teach children about water.
“I come from an outdoor-education background and have watched kids become connected to the environment,” Price said. “Then it’s like everything they learn in the classroom begins to make sense. Whenever kids have the opportunity to do hands-on learning it resonates for much longer.”
“We want to get them to understand more about the river so they can comprehend just how precious it is, how important it is to conserve and protect it,” Susan Turcmanovich of Pennsylvania American Water said.
Several water activities are planned, with some explaining the physical and chemical properties of water and others explaining the role water plays in the world as well as local life.
Demonstrations will explain acid mine drainage, common in the area, and macroinvertebrates, what Turcmanovich calls “all the bugs that live in our waterways and are indicators of good water quality.”
The value of water, in general, is something the Riverfront Parks Committee hopes to convey.
“Water is everywhere but can also be scarce,” Vinnie Cotrone, president of the Riverfront Parks Committee, said. “People are just using much more of it. Today, the average person in Pennsylvania uses anywhere from 70 or 80 to 100 gallons of water a day. One hundred years ago, it was five gallons.”
The largest part of the day, and the most visual, is giving children the opportunity to use chalk to express themselves on the River Common concrete. Each child who registers will receive a designated area on which to doodle, and this year, Price said, the children can turn in the number of their square for judging. The contest will be divided into age categories of 5 and under, 6 through 10 and 11 and up.
A live mammal show will take place at 2 p.m. Face painting, games, crafts, music, fishing and even Zumba are among the other offerings.
If you go
What: Chalkfest 2012, with the Hydromania program
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 6, with live mammal show at 2 p.m.
Where: River Common, North River Street, Wilkes-Barre
