Amazing Earthfest

Seven distinctive events are scheduled for opening day of the 18th Amazing Earthfest, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. For a total of 5 days extending through Sunday, May 12, thirty-two activities in all will take place. These include group hikes, a mountain bike ride, live music, informative wildlife, botany and archaeology presentations, illuminating films, discussions of land ethics and impacts of the climate crisis, spiritual renewal through immersion in nature, poetry, star parties and yoga, creating one of Utah’s most interesting public festivals. Opening Day at Earthfest begins on a hike with USU Geoscience Professor Colter Davis to a site replete with crinoid columnal fossils eroding out of the middle Jurassic Carmel formation in Mt. Carmel Junction, Utah. Other events that day include an exploration of how preserving Utah’s healthy pinyon-juniper forests could help mitigate rising atmospheric carbon dioxide responsible for global warming; getting up close and personal with a live Great Horned Owl with Utah Dept. of Natural Resources Ranger Kathy Donnell, and a multimedia presentation by Laurie Dameron with discussion and song to discover actions we can take right at home for the health of our planet. Following a fascinating documentary film by Bloomberg Originals called Optimists Guide to the Planet, day one of Amazing Earthfest comes to a close with an opportunity to relax into the first of two scheduled evening yoga workshops led by Jennilynn Lowe.

In a featured event on Wednesday, May 8, beginning at 1:30 pm at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary Angel’s Landing site, the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians will demonstrate their unique language, creative uses for natural materials to make clothing, and express through song their profound sense of place in the land of their origin. Among the presenters are Angie Bulletts from the tribe’s Cultural Resources Committee which advocates for sharing tribal culture to inform and build understanding of the tribe’s unique place in the world. In conversation and through live performance, Tribal Cultural Resources Director Daniel Bulletts and Paiute Cultural Preservation Director LeAnn Jake Shearer will also engage the audience in aspects of the tribe’s culture and traditions.

Later in the week, a feature length documentary titled Stewart Udall: The Politics of Beauty, examines the trajectory of Udall's life from his childhood through his Mormon mission, his World War II service, his student years at the University of Arizona, his time in Congress, and then, most significantly, his years as Secretary of the Interior under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, focusing on his effectiveness as a dedicated, bi-partisan public servant. Secretary Udall called on all Americans to move away from our emphasis on economic growth and consumerism toward quality of life, and a new political ethos centered on beauty, simplicity, appreciation of nature and the arts, and a recognition of Earth's limits - a message that still resonates today! A community conversation follows immediately after the film.

In another outstanding event scheduled on Saturday, May 11, from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm at Kanab City Library, this year’s Amazing Earthfest welcomes Brenden Rensink, associate director for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University who will moderate a panel discussion on the cultural and doctrinal perspectives within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on the environment, stewardship and land use. Panelists will include BYU professor of plant & wildlife sciences Sam St. Clair, Steve Leavitt, associate director for the Bean Museum and BYU professor of biology; Lisa Aedo, board member with LDS Earth Stewardship, Hopi farmer, artist and cultural knowledge-holder Evvy Lynn Trujillo, and Matt Brown, local Kanab business owner and community leader.

Printed Schedules of Events listing all activities are available free at the Kane County Office of Tourism and at offices, visitor centers, libraries and business locations around the Kanab/Fredonia area.

Online please visit: https://www.amazingearthfest.org/events/upcoming to learn more and to register to attend the events that interest you most!