OLIVEBRIDGE — The Ashokan Center will host its first Earth Fest - arts, music and nature festival on Sunday, April 21, from 12:00 to 4:00 pm. Earth lovers of all ages are invited to the Ashokan Center for a variety of family-friendly and planet-focused activities throughout the day including a birds of prey demonstration, hands-on educational workshops, story readings, nature crafts, art-making activities, guided hikes, and live music presented by Shokoloko.

Ravensbeard Wildlife Center will host an educational birds of prey demonstration at 12:30pm spotlighting their rescued and rehabilitating birds. Ravensbeard provides wildlife rehabilitation for injured, ill and orphaned animals in order to return them back to the wild.

Nature crafts will be available throughout the day and include a seed ball making station and hands-on creative workshops. Workshop options include ink-making and birch-bark puppet crafting with local teacher and artist Roberta Ziema, clothes upcycling with Kathy Grassi, and nature art making with Patty Mooney.

Guests also have the opportunity to explore and dredge Ashokan’s ponds with Ashokan’s expert Educators to look for microscopic yet important wildlife in our ecosystems. Or meander through Ashokan’s vast nature preservation to discover millions of years of ancient geological rock formations on a .95 mile guided hike to Ashokan’s famous Cathedral Gorge. Ashokan Educators will point out local spring flora and fauna along the way.

Live music will be presented by Shokoloko, an electro-acoustic trio that taps into th diverse sounds and influences of America, Africa, Europe, Asia and beyond. Shokoloko is Joakim Lartey on drums, percussion and voice; Chris Lane on guitar and electric guitar, oud-guitar and banjo; and Richard Carr on violin and electric violin.

Samosa Shack of Kingston, NY will be on site with artisanal samosas for sale. Guests can also purchase vegetarian food from the Ashokan Cafe throughout the day.

Ashokan’s all-age tickets work on a sliding scale with $20 as the suggested price of the event, $10 as the minimum, and $30 to be a supporter and help others attend. Tickets and full details are available at https://ashokancenter.org/earthfest.