The 19th annual event, hosted by the Quota Club of Oroville, Youth for Change and the Oroville YMCA, provides high school students and eighth grade graduates in need with free dresses, suits, jackets, dress shirts, slacks, ties, shoes jewelry and hygiene products donated by businesses and community members.

“We reach out to every high school from here to Sacramento and Redding and as many social workers and foster organizations as we have contacts for to let them know the kids can come and shop for free clothing for prom and graduation,” said Kiki Silva, Quota Club Prom Project chair.

This year’s event will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. April 8 through 12 and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 13 at the Oroville YMCA  and Convention Center at 1200 Myers St. Income verification is not required to shop the pop-up boutique. Students may come alone to shop but parents must bring their students with them to take advantage of the giveaway.

All clothing, including the more than 2,000 dresses, are on clothing racks or arranged on tables by size. Dresses are available in sizes zero to 28 and shoes are available in sizes six to 12. Silva said they are still in need of plus-size dresses as well as men’s dress wear. Donations of gently used and new items are accepted.

“We would also really like to have donations of gift certificates for manicures and tuxedo rentals,” said Silva.

High school seniors are invited to shop for prom, graduation and  job interview outfits while high school juniors may select prom and job interview clothing. Eighth-grade graduates are also welcome to shop for graduation ensembles.

“When students come in, they are assigned a personal shopper who finds out what their needs are and stays with them through the whole experience helping them find what they need and make selections,” said Silva. “When they are finished shopping, the students come to the front where we wrap their items nicely in tissue and put them in a bag, giving them the complete boutique experience.”

About 50 volunteers work to make the Prom Project a success including those who serve as personal shoppers. These volunteers are specially trained to work with students including with young people who may have “image problems” so that all students leave “feeling good about themselves and their choices,” said Silva.

“So many of the kids come in expecting just used clothing or think we won’t have anything in their size,” said Silva. “They are always surprised to see how much of the clothing like the dresses donated by Lulus.com and Macy’s are new and how many sizes we have. We see so many smiles and the kids and parents are so grateful when we tell them we can absolutely find them something they need.”

More than 200 students from as far south as Olivehurst to as far north as Quincy enjoyed shopping at the Prom Project in 2023. This was an increase of 25% over the previous year. Silva said she expects the number will increase again this year as there are more families in “greater need at this point in time.”

“There are so many wonderful moments during Prom Project,” said Silva. “It just makes our hearts happy.”

Donations for the projects are being accepted through April 8 and may be dropped off in Oroville at the YMCA or in Chico at Youth for Change, 260 Cohasset Road. For more information about the Prom Project or to make special arrangements for gift certificate or other donations call Silva at 530-534-3387.

That is the premise of This Way to Resilience exposition Friday at Chico State, where local nonprofits convened for discussion on current efforts to make Butte County prepared with long term resources for its next climate disaster — not if, but when.

“There is no personal protection against climate change,” said Chico State Professor Mark Stemen. “There’s not any one thing we can do to protect ourselves from a major flood or a major fire, but collectively we can.”

Resilience, as Stemen puts it, is recognition that sustainable practices can be put to action, not alone, but as “something we do together.”

“Sustainability is still a goal, but unfortunately things have gotten worse. And now we have to be prepared for disturbances as well – and that is resilience,” Stemen said.

Ushering in this mindset is the Butte Resilience Collaborative, composed of some of the presenters at Friday’s expo. In attendance more than a dozen organizations including the American Red Cross presented their current projects happening in Butte County.

Disasters here — the Oroville Dam spillway and several wildfires — have spawned conversations with the Butte Resilience Collaborative, of which the American Red Cross is part of local conversation.

Nate Millard, manager for the American Red Cross community adaptation program, said the American Red Cross is recognizing climate change to cause billions of dollars in costs, and has now invested about $1 million in Butte County to build out community centers, or “resilience” hubs for the first time.

Currently, Millard said, the Red Cross has invested money into the Bethel African American Episcopal Church, Oroville Southside Community Center, South Chico Community Assistance Center, the Esperanza Center and others in Paradise.

“We’ve been trying to find them all and bring them together,” Millard said.

The organizations at Friday’s expo, including the American Red Cross, are working on a partner agreement form — ironing out how all organizations in the county can triage resources during a disaster.

Millard said this effort into the Butte Resilience Collaborative is seeking to figure out collaboration, communication and resource management soon to be presented April 5 at the Dorothy F. Johnson Center.

Fifteen years ago, disasters costing more than $1 billion would average about three per year in the United States, Millard said. But now about 15 disasters that cause $1 billion in damage are occurring each year, with the last year counting 28.

“Say Maui — Maui is a 3-year recovery. The response was huge and the recovery is even longer, but what we’re realizing is that we’re always in continuous response. It’s too much, and it’s overwhelming everybody.”

Friday’s exposition followed a documentary premiere Thursday called “The Climate Baby Dilemma.”

“These awards, named after the late Sen. Gary K. Hart, the author of the original charter school bill in the state of California in 1992, are given to schools and education leaders with a demonstrated record of outstanding achievements in serving all students and furthering California’s charter public school movement,” stated the press release from CORE Butte Charter Superintendent Mary Cox.

CORE Butte is a transitional kindergarten through grade 12 school with over 930 students.

“It is well-deserved: CORE truly lives out the spirit of charter schools in California, as we see each child as an individual and work together to personalize education for each one of them,” said CORE Butte High School English teacher Samantha Gobba.

CORE Butte celebrated the award Thursday night at its meeting with a pizza dinner.

“Having dedicated 19 years of my career to CORE, the sense of family here runs deep within me,” Cox said.

Magnolia Public Schools in Los Angeles was also selected for this award.

There will be a live-online spring preview for classes from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. today. The Zoom link for this will be provided on the OLLI website. The meeting ID is 81582275012 and the passcode is OLLI2024.

The in-person class preview will be held Thursday, March 28 from 10:30 a.m. until noon. There will be a presentation and time to meet instructors from 10:30-11 a.m. This will be held at the Chico Masonic Family Center at 1110 W. East Ave. and there will be free parking, coffee and snacks.

Instructor Mary Sweeney will be teaching a tap dancing class called “Tap Dancing is Fun.” Sweeney taught tap dancing for 30 years at different locations and started teaching tap at OLLI in January for the winter term. The class will be taught from April 30 to June 15. Dates: 4/30/2024 – 6/25/2024. It will take place on Tuesday from 8:30-9:30 a.m. and will be taught at Chico Creek Dance in Room Studio B.

Sweeney started tap dancing when she was five years old.

“I did choreography for Keeping Dance Alive in the 1990s,” Sweeney said. “I kept running into one of my dancers and they told me I should teach for OLLI. I had 19 people sign up the first time it was offered.”

Sweeney said tap is good for anyone at any age.

“For older adults it helps with balance and cognition,” Sweeney said. “I give them something tricky to work their brains.”

She said the class helps socially too.

“It’s a community experience,” she said. “People come at all levels. Some have never danced before. Everyone has a good time.”

Sweeney said tap is something which has not been offered before at OLLI. She monitors her students and makes sure they are not getting fatigued.

Students must buy their own tap shoes but other shoes can be used if tap shoes aren’t available.

Instructors Robin Dizard and Janet Rechtman will be teaching a new class called “New Looks At Old Books.” This class will be taught from May 13 to June 24. It will meet on Mondays from 1-2 p.m. at The Social Chico in Room Gordon 1.

“It’s a new course,” said Dizard. “We are visiting five or six authors, each chosen because their writing seems to apply to right now. Most wrote between 100-200 years ago.”

Some of the authors the students will be studying are Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats and Herman Melville.

OLLI Chico Program Manager Ruth Alderson is excited for the spring term.

“We’re excited about OLLI’s spring classes because we have such a range of classes, from small discussion groups to large lectures, kayaking opportunities to painting instruction, all led by people who want to share their expertise,” said Alderson. “Spring is a time for new growth and the lifelong learners in OLLI’s community know it’s never too late for something  new. With classes in the classroom, outside, and online, we have a wide variety of opportunities for members of our community to learn something new and meet new people.”

Registration for spring opens Thursday, April 4, at 9 a.m. Students can register online at olli.csuchico.edu. OLLI is located at Chico State at the Aymer J. Hamilton building in Room 118B at 400 W. First St. Students can also call 530-898-6679 to register or for more information. OLLI can be found on Facebook under Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Chico State.

Hotter days? More flooding and less snowpack? Species decline and migration? Stemen amplified these and more, notably through 17 years of the university’s This Way to Sustainability conference — relaunching this week in a new format as This Way to Resilience.

He takes little pleasure in validations of his message; rather, Stemen said, “it causes me a whole lot of anxiety.”

The reflection came on a sunny afternoon outside Colusa Hall, where the symposium will run Thursday evening and Friday (see infobox). Stemen noted that Tuesday’s high of 84 hit the 99th percentile of March 19 temperatures that state has tracked since 1991.

“Everyone was celebrating the beautiful days this week,” he continued, “and I was wondering about the future temperatures.

“Midwesterners talk about ‘tornado weather’ — we have ‘wildfire weather.’ A warm breeze coming from the northeast makes me anxious.

“And my students (feel climate anxiety) as well.”

Stemen works to integrate climate change into the curriculum at schools across the California State University system; in that effort, he connected with Britt Wray, a Stanford researcher and author (“Generation Dread”) featured in a documentary titled “The Climate Baby Dilemma.” So far screened only in Canada and at film festivals, the movie will make its international university premiere Thursday, complete with a red carpet.

Friday’s expo will feature workshops and informational tables from groups such as the Climate Action Corps and the Butte Resilience Collaborative. Stemen distinguished the symposium from its predecessor conference because it’s smaller and, he quipped, “symposium is Greek for ‘We feed you’.” (Admission is free and includes pizza.)

“We like to say in the resilience world, ‘We don’t want to bounce back, we want to bounce better’,” he added. “This is our attempt to bounce better and envision what we should be doing. This Way (to Sustainability) had a great run, we learned a lot, and now I think a lot of resilience work is trying to put that into practice.”

Collaboration

The reincarnation of This Way traces to Stemen and a former colleague, Nate Millard, who now works for the American Red Cross as a regional program manager focused on reducing communities’ disaster risks. He’s also an organizer of the Butte Resilience Collaborative, a collection of local agencies brought together thanks to grant funds from the Red Cross and the North Valley Community Foundation. The organization percolated for two years before forming in earnest last August.

The collaborative was the first under a pilot program through which the Red Cross now supports 15 groups. After the symposium, BRC will meet April 5 at the Dorothy Johnson Center in Chico from 9 a.m. to noon.

Millard compares resilience efforts to a stream: Refilled by rainfall, “it bounces back to what it was. There’s this real understanding that for some people, for some communities in our county, there’s no bouncing back to something; it’s never been good. So how do we bounce forward? How do we move beyond?”

That’s where This Way to Resilience comes in. The film screening will feature a discussion afterward to examine the theme of existential dread so severe that a growing number of young adults hesitate to bring children into the world. The expo will present potential solutions.

“Butte County has so much need,” Millard said. “Even though we have the highest ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) in California, with all these hazards, the ways that we already work together is making us able to move so much faster and so much beyond what I see a lot of other counties and parishes across the nation doing.”

Stemen hopes symposium attendees come away with the same feelings of encouragement.

“One of the things that provides the most anxiety for my students is when they think they’re alone in these things,” he said. “And they’re not. That’s part of this — I think (attendees) will realize they’re not alone.”

Event details

Thursday: Film premiere, 6:30 p.m.

Friday: Expo, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Site: Colusa Hall, Chico State

More info: www.csuchico.edu/calendar

Heimlich, who has been teaching at Butte College for 3 years, recently received the California Music Educators Association John Swain College/University Educator of the Year award.

“I love working with him,” said Butte College student and saxophone player Mathew Lor. “He has a lot of passion, a lot of fire in his energy.”

Students, community

Heimlich’s favorite part of his job is “the students,” and seeing them succeed.

The hardest part of his job is, “the students,” he said with a laugh.

“I mean, I’m kind of joking but you know there’s a lot that needs to happen in order to to see their success,” Heimlich said.

Butte College student and guitar player Sean Harrington said Heimlich gives good “constructive criticism.”

“It doesn’t feel like he’s ever just telling you, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re doing good’ and not helping you improve,” Harrington said. “And it’s also like, he’s not being just mean and telling everything you’re doing wrong.”

One of Heimlich’s student’s, Ryan Cotton, used to go to Chico State for its music program. He said Chico State felt more individualistic, and that he feels a bigger sense of community at Butte College.

Cotton said a big part of the Butte College’s music program is the support Heimlich offers each student.

“He has a way of connecting with people, where he can connect you with the right people that you need for success,” Cotton said. “He’s also just a great person.”

At his Tuesday Jazz ensemble class, Heimlich encouraged students to use earbuds to protect their ears, listen to their assigned music and practice.

“Taking the instrument home doesn’t magically make it practice,” Heimlich said.

During the class Heimlich walked around the room singing the beat of the songs they played, and shouting to cue in sections and give praise

In between songs and sections he asked students to rate their performance, say what they did well on and what they could improve on. He lightheartedly joked with students and encouraged creativity.

“Rhythm section I want you to do something you feel is ridiculous,” Heimlich said.

Background

Heimlich wears many musical hats. In addition to directing the concert, jazz and pop bands, as well as teaching studio instruction and music theory, he is the Performing Arts Department Chair.

Outside of Butte College he plays clarinet in the North State Symphony. He is also in a band made up of teachers called Rigamarole, though he said they don’t play very much these days.

Heimlich is originally from Mammoth Lakes, California. After getting his Bachelor of Arts in music from UC Berkeley, he moved to Chico in 2005 to get his Master of Arts in music at Chico State.

Heimlich grew up in a family that loved music. In fourth grade, he started playing clarinet with his music teacher George Vest whom Heimlich described as, “excellent.”

“He really got me excited about it and I just never stopped since then,” Heimlich said.

The award

The California Music Educators Association is an organization made up of music teachers that promotes diversity and equity in music education.

CMEA is a state-wide organization broken up into nine geographical sections. Heimlich won the award for the northern section, which includes 15 inland Northern California counties.

The award Heimlich received is named after John Swain, who worked in the music department at Cal State Los Angeles for 19 years in various roles. Swain died from colon cancer at 52 years old.

“Ryan Heimlich was chosen for this award based on his wonderful work at Butte College with our future music educators,” said CMEA executive administrator Trish Adams. “More students have access to a high quality and meaningful collegiate music education because of the efforts of Ryan Heimlich at Butte Community College.”

The deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history at the time, the fire spread at the rate of 80 football fields a minute at its peak, scorching the hearts and minds of the people who live there, especially the children.

That’s why the Butte County Office of Education sent trauma-informed arts educators into the schools, to help students cope with their fear, grief and loss. Buildings can be repaired far more quickly than the volatile emotions of children scarred by tragedy. Long after the flames died down, the heightened sense of fragility that often follows trauma lingered.

“The people displaced from Paradise were suffering from acute trauma, running for their lives, losing their houses and being displaced,” said Jennifer Spangler, arts education coordinator at Butte County Office of Education. “This county has been at the nexus of a lot of impactful traumas, so it makes sense that we would want to create something that directly addresses it.”

Even now, years after the conflagration, many residents are still healing from the aftermath. For example, the county has weathered huge demographic shifts, including spikes in homelessness, in the wake of the fire, which have unsettled the community. All of that came on the heels of the 2017 Oroville dam evacuations and longstanding issues of poverty, drug addiction and unemployment, compounding the sense of trauma.

“Butte County already had the highest adverse childhood experiences (ACES) scores in the state,” said Spangler. “We’re economically depressed, with high numbers of foster kids and unstable family lives and drugs. I think the fire was just another layer, and then Covid was another layer on top of that.”

Theater’s healing nature

Chris Murphy is a teaching artist who has worked with children in Paradise public schools as well as those at the Juvenile Hall School. He believes that theater can be a kind of restorative practice, helping students heal from their wounds in a safe space.

“Arts education is so effective in working with students impacted by trauma because the creative process operates on an instinctual level,” said Murphy, an actor best known for voicing the role of Murray in the “Sly Cooper” video game franchise for Sony’s PlayStation. “All arts are basically a way to tell a story and, as human beings, we are hard-wired to engage in storytelling as both participant and observer. A bond of mutual respect and trust develops among the group as they observe each other’s performances and make each other laugh. Over time, the environment takes on a more relaxed and safe quality.”

Another teaching artist, Kathy Naas, specializes in teaching drumming as part of a social-emotional learning curriculum that helps students find redemption in the visceral call-and-response rhythms of the drum circle.

“Trauma is powerful and is connected to something that occurred in the past,” said Naas, a drummer who is currently performing with a samba group as well as a Congolese group based in Chico. “Drumming occurs in the present moment and engages the brain so much that fear,  pain and sadness cannot break through.”

Not just ‘natural’ disasters

To be sure, the use of trauma-informed arts ed techniques goes beyond natural disasters. Many arts advocates believe that these techniques can help children cope with myriad stressors.

“Now more than ever, these cycles of traumatic events, they just keep coming,” said Spangler, who modeled the Butte program after a similar one in Sonoma County in the wake of the devastating 2017 Tubbs Fire.

Children who have experienced trauma may experience negative effects in many aspects of their lives, experts warn. They may struggle socially in school, get lower grades, and be suspended or expelled. They may even become involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice system.

“An individual who has been impacted by trauma, especially ongoing toxic stressors like a home environment with addiction, neglect or abuse, develops a brain chemistry that is detrimental to cognitive function … essentially locking the brain in a fight-flight-freeze cycle,” Murphy said. “With this understanding of what the trauma-affected student is going through, I use theater arts to disrupt the cycle.”

It should also be noted that delayed reactions are par for the course when dealing with post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), experts say. Some children will show their distress readily, while others may try to hide their struggle.

A mental health crisis

Coming out of the pandemic, the healing power of the arts has been cast into wide relief as public health officials seek tools to grapple with the youth mental health crisis.

“Music can, in a matter of seconds, make me feel better,” said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy during an arts summit organized by the White House Domestic Policy Council and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). “I’ve prescribed a lot of medicines as a doctor over the years. There are few I’ve seen that have that kind of extraordinary, instantaneous effect.”

Drumming can help build empathy, Naas says, because it allows for self-expression but also encourages a sense of ensemble, listening to others and taking turns.

“Drumming is a powerful activity that creates community,” said Naas. “What I notice about drumming with children is that students become excited, motivated, and fully engaged at the very start. They reach for the rhythms and begin exploring the drums right away.”

Fighting the isolation

Arts and music can nurture a visceral feeling of belonging that can help combat the isolation that often follows a tragic event, experts say. This may also provide some relief for those grappling with the aftershocks of the pandemic.

“The truth is we are all dealing with hardships associated with the pandemic and with learning loss, and we know that the arts, social-emotional learning and engagement can create a healing environment,” said Peggy Burt, a statewide arts education consultant based in Los Angeles. “Children need to heal to develop community, develop a sense of belonging and a sense of readiness so that they can learn.”

The families of Butte county know that in their bones. Trauma can fester long after the emergency has passed, after the headlines and the hoopla. Turning tragedy into art may be one way to heal.

“I’ve seen it over and over in these classrooms, the kids quiet down, they’re calm, they’re focused,” said Spangler. “You can see the profound impact the arts have on the kids every day.”

A total of 15 students grades five to eight from south Butte County schools presented projects Saturday for the Oroville Kiwanis Science Fair at the Oroville Convention Center

Jenna Fairbanks, student at Ishi Hills Middle School, presented for her second year and this time asked — which tastes better: homemade caramel popcorn, or five different store-bought popcorns?

Polling 41 of her neighbors, Fairbanks brought popcorn to their doorstep and analyzed her data.

“My hypothesis was that the homemade one would be the better one … No. 6, the homemade one, was the favorite,” Fairbanks said.

After all, Fairbanks made it herself.

“We made promises to bring them caramel popcorn,” said Anna Fairbanks, her mother.

Oroville Kiwanis organizer Laurie Sousa said the students spent their extra time outside of school for this science fair.

Sousa said the Oroville Kiwanis began the science fair in 2023 as something to do to serve the community, in light that their popular Hooked On Fishing ended.

“This isn’t a teacher thing — this is parents helping out. They’re not getting a grade on it unless the school wants to do something like that,” Sousa said. “Our focus is community.”

Students conducted bona fide research analyses of their hypothesis and results — which apple variety rots quickest; which mouthwash best kills germs, among others.

And, yes, the classic volcano was brilliantly demonstrated by student Lilliana Carrasco-Scruby of Ophir Elementary School.

Students in attendance were from Ophir Elementary School, Oroville Christian School, St. Thomas Catholic School and Lake View Charter School attended the fair, hosted by the Oroville Kiwanis in partnership with Cal Water and the Oroville YMCA.

Huss is an oboe player and has been named first chair in the California All State Music Educators Conference Symphonic Band and Northern California Honor Band, while also earning first place in the North State Symphony Young Artist Competition and the Paradise Symphony Orchestra Arlene Harms Young Artists Competition. Huss is grateful for every opportunity.

“My dream is to become a professional symphony musician, and all of these opportunities to play with such talented musicians and conductors have really made a big impact on my life,” Huss said. “I’m so grateful that this journey has led me here, and I hope to become even more immersed in the beauty of music.”

Huss is the first Chico High School student chosen for the All-State ensemble since the 2012-13 school year, according to a press release. Huss was singled out for her talent by world-renowned conductor and composer Julie Giroux. Huss has also been studying music privately with well-known Chico music teacher Susie Lundberg for years. Lundberg plays first chair oboe for the North State Symphony.

“This recognition speaks volumes about Catalina’s commitment to her craft and her ability to excel in competitive environments,” said Chico High School Instrumental Music Director Ruben Morales. “It’s a testament to both her talent and her hard work.”

Huss has also earned opportunities to perform and grow. She has been invited to perform with the North State Symphony as a featured artist, and at the Paradise Symphony’s May 5 concert. Huss has been awarded a full scholarship to attend the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop at Cal Poly Humboldt this summer.

Huss and Morales each expressed gratitude to the Chico High School Music Boosters for paying entry fees to the contests and conferences.

“The support we get from our community is crucial for our individual musicians and our entire music department,” Morales said.

Huss began playing music in the fifth grade and has been playing consistently since then. She joined the school band. She said her parents have been really supportive of her.

“My mom is a musical theater teacher at Chico Junior High School and grew up in L.A,” Huss said. “She was really into music and wanted to be an opera singer. Arts have always been a big part of my life.”

Morales is very proud of Huss.

“Catalina is an incredible musician,” Morales said. “As a teacher it’s nice to see a student who pushes themselves that hard. She really wants to be the best she can be.”

Huss practices every day, sometimes for up to four hours. She is also taking classes at Butte College and Oregon State for music theory.

Huss plans to become ta professional musician, which she started aspiring to in the seventh grade.

“Becoming a classical oboist is my dream,” she said.

Huss’ next goal is join the Sacramento Youth Symphony.

Oroville Botanic Gardens and Educations Center in partnership with the city and chamber of commerce are hosting the fifth annual event designed to educate people on maintaining and expanding natural resources in the community and at their own homes.

“Oroville is an amazing town,” said Raeshae Shane, OBGEC vice president. “We hope the festival helps to bring people a passion for the city they live in and in the betterment of Oroville’s natural resources and all the beauty they have to offer.”

The free community event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Oroville Convention Center, 1200 Myers St.

The event will open with a presentation of the Tree City USA flag by the Arbor Day Foundation to the city of Oroville, which has been Tree City USA for more than four decades.

“We’re very excited that Oroville is part of Tree City USA, “ said Shane. “It’s a big mission for the Oroville Botanic Gardens and Education Center to bring awareness and protection to trees already here and to work on restoring trees that have been lost.”

Presentations during the event include a bonsai demonstration by the Chico Bonsai Society; woodcarving by O’Rourke’s Outdoor Adventures and Cal Fire-Butte County will be there with its smoke house to teach kids fire safety. The Butte County Fire Safe Council will bring a goat to raise awareness about goat grazing for fire fuel reduction. K Organics will be presenting information on bio char and soil health and the Butte County Resource Conservation District will also be hosting a booth. Vice Mayor Eric Smith will do a presentation based on Dr. Seuss’ book “The Lorax.”

The Lake Oroville Area Garden Club will offer a rose propagation activity. The Rainforest Art Project will also be set-up to allow children and adults the opportunity to help create one of the 60 tile mosaic murals slated for installation along a 600-foot wall on Table Mountain Boulevard near the Feather River Fish Hatchery.

Treetop Permaculture will be giving away 5,000 tree saplings to people whose properties were impacted by the North Complex which was made of the Bear and Claremont fires. While trees will be given away on a first come, first served basis, those wishing to lock in receipt of free trees may register in advance at https://forms.gle/Br1Br7TFQi5d1o1XA.

“Although the 5,000 tree giveaway is for Bear Fire survivors, we will likely have plenty left over and, if so, we would be happy to help anyone who is replanting from fire damage,” said Matthew Trumm, Treetop Permaculture founder.

Ready Racoon, Smokey Bear and Sparky the Fire Dog will also be attending the festival as will 45 local vendors and three food trucks including Churros Daisy, Farm To Fork and Will’s Catering. There will also be a beer garden for those 21 and older.

Raffles will be held throughout the day with all proceeds benefitting OBGEC’s gardens, education programs and community work.

“We are encouraging people to come to the festival to meet the amazing, fun educational vendors who will help teach them about how to improve the quality of nature here in Oroville,” said Shane. “We hope that as a result of attending the festival more members of the community will help make the community a better place by volunteering for local environment-related nonprofits, planting gardens and trees at their homes and teaching children to care for the environment.”