2016 Arbor Festival "After the Fire"

Please join us in celebrating the City of Yakima's first official Arbor Day and celebration during the Yakima Area Arboretum's 17th annual Arbor Festival on Saturday, April 16. The City of Yakima recently proclaimed the annual Arbor Festival as the City's official Arbor Day celebration.  Yahoo!!

Special events to honor this Arbor Day Proclamation are still being planned.

Please be kind to the earth by bringing your own reusable bag to carry home all of your crafts, handouts, and other items you will collect at the Festival.

Arbor Fest is FREE to attend and celebrates not only our city, state and national Arbor Days, but spring, conservation, and natural science.  

Each year features a special theme. This year's theme is "After the Fire," discussing what happens to the forest and shrub steppe environment after a fire has gone through it.  Both the good and the bad.  We cover an exciting topic this year!

Families can expect lots of hands-on learning opportunities, crafts, and displays.  Plus, over 600 families will have an opportunity to take home their own tree to plant in their yard in honor of Arbor Day. 

Roughly 40 stations, sponsored by a variety of community organizations, will be on hand to share in the experience of this year's theme.  The Arbor Festival strives to make environmental science fun for everyone to learn!

Some of the organizations hosting a booth at the event are:
Yakima Valley Mushroom Society
Central Washington Beekeepers Society
Washington Native Plant Society
Yakima Valley Audubon Society
USDA-Agricultural Research Laboratory
CWU Department of Biological Sciences
Yakima Clean Air Authority
Heritage University Department of Sciences
Yakima Basin Environmental Education Program
Yakima County Solid Waste
Cascadians
Yakima Humane Society
4-H Club
Washington Department of Transportation
Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission
WSU Master Gardeners
Naches Ranger Station
Smokey Bear
Yakima Valley Regional Library
Yakima Greenway
Yakima Area Arboretum

Header photo compliments of: Kieran Hunt (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons