Amazing Earthfest

What distinguishes Southern Utah’s Amazing Earthfest from the many other great special events happening around our state? Is it duration; inviting visitors to Kane County for six days to discover its many natural wonders? Or emphasis on the natural world we live in; through events that explore how nature supports all life on our planet, in its great multiplicity and splendor; or the variety of unique experiential learning events, five per day, with none repeated during the six day festival.

The 17th Amazing Earthfest delivers memorable experiences in five distinct categories: Arts and Culture, Community, Documentary Film, Outdoor Adventure, Science and Land. Consider the opportunities the festival offers in Kanab during the week of May 14-20.

In Arts and Culture, collaborating with the Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts, the 2023 Earthfest will produce a top notch live concert of classical chamber music featuring works for strings by J.S. Bach, Mozart and Handel. Violist and Conductor Joel Rosenberg, a 2023 recipient of the Utah Governor’s Mansion Award for the Arts will be joined by Violinist Ruth Sherwood Sadasivan, recipient of the Ford Foundation Fellowship for String Quartet, for a memorable performance inside the Maynard Dixon Legacy Museum and Gallery in Mt. Carmel, Utah. Advance purchase tickets are $25 for adults, and just $5 for students at the door. Seating is limited. To get tickets while they last, go to: https://www.amazingearthfest.org/events/earth-festival-chamber-concert.

Also in art, meet the artists of the Raven’s Heart Gallery, see their works, join a poetry reading, or take an astrophotography workshop!

In the category called Community, choose from ten activities including Cob Oven Baking, a presentation on light pollution by the program director for the South Physics Observatory at the University of Utah, several public star parties, an interactive game that builds self-awareness, an afternoon exploring sustainability, or head over to Jacob Hamblin Park to enjoy a potluck supper! 

At an event called Mother’s Day Stars, Venus and Mars, scheduled for the evening of May 14 (Mother’s day), moms are invited to bring their children to explore the planets, star clusters and galaxies of the spring sky through telescopes provided by Kanab’s Stellar Vista Observatory. Former planetarium director, author and senior astronomy interpreter Von Del Chamberlain will share stories about the constellations from different cultures. The event takes place at Jackson Flat Reservoir boat launch parking area off Kaneplex Drive beginning at 8:30 pm. Bathroom facilities are available.

In Documentary Film, eight award-winning titles are being screened this year in the Kanab City Library meeting room. Here are just two. The Letter, a message from Pope Francis based on his encyclical Laudato Si about the urgent need to care for each other and for our Earth is followed by a conversation exploring our experience of “the sacred” in nature, facilitated by Father Rick Sherman from St. Christopher’s Catholic Church in Kanab. In another film titled, Down to Earth, you’ll hear the heartwarming stories and thought-provoking perspectives of astronauts who have flown missions on the space station as they express their deeply personal, often transformational experiences of the precariousness of life in space and the magnificent beauty of Earth, the only habitable planet we know. Five films present various perspectives on the climate crisis. It’s a great opportunity to learn a lot about a topic everyone is talking about.

The Outdoor Adventure category features five activities ranging from bird watching at Jackson Flat Reservoir, to a morning hike at the new Tilted Mesa trail system east of Kanab, to a lunch hike with BLM Paria River District Manager Harry Barber on the Greenhalgh Trail. 

In a first-of-its-kind event, you can take a guided excursion on foot to visit ancient Ponderosa Pines in a wilderness study area followed by a savory hot supper at the BLM Ponderosa Campground’s new group site prepared by French Chef extraordinaire Cesidio D’Andrea (Vermillion 45 French Table Restaurant), And that’s followed by a star party right after supper! Oh, what’s on the menu? How about Belgian Fricassee-style Chicken, Moroccan Vegetable Curry, fresh baked Broule, with dessert of Coeur de Palmier, coffee and tea! Advance ticket purchase at just $25/person is required for this fabulous field supper.

In the fifth and final category of Earthfest events, Science and Land, no less than eleven different events are coming your way, from Electricity in Transition with Garkane COO Bryant Shakespear, to a visit with a live Owl with DNR Naturalist Kathy Donnell, to a Silviculture Tour on the North Kaibab National Forest, to a Picnic Lunch at Eagle Sink with Utah State University Geologist Colter Davis, to exploring the mysteries of Black Holes over French pastries and coffee with Physicist Paul Ricketts, a hike to dinosaur tracks and more! 

One major feature of the 2023 festival in this category is a presentation by members of the Westminster College Great Salt Lake Initiative called Plight of the Great Salt Lake, scheduled for 3:00 pm on Friday, May 19, at the offices of the Kane County Water Conservancy District, Kaneplex Drive, Kanab. Find out what has brought about the crisis, some of the risks looming in the near future for the lake and nearby cities of the Salt Lake Valley, and what can be done to make a difference before it’s too late!

All these experiences and more are at your fingertips here in Kanab, Utah this month. Most are free. Thank you to the Kane County Office of Tourism and our many local area donors and sponsors! Register to attend by visiting https://www.amazingearthfest.org/.