Springing for Art
ALLARM to host second-annual LeTort Festival
April 28, 2009
Despite the rain, Carlisle and Dickinson community members turned out in droves for last year's LeTort Festival.With Dickinson artists in the new Art Zone, a community mural project with the Carlisle Arts Learning Center and pine-cone birdfeeders in the Kids Zone, the second annual LeTort Festival is all about arts and crafts. The purpose: to educate the community about Carlisle's LeTort Spring Run, one of the country's most renowned—and vulnerable—trout-fishing streams.
Organized by Dickinson's Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM), in partnership with the Borough of Carlisle and local community groups, the festival will be held 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, May 2, in LeTort Park in Carlisle.
ALLARM has expanded its slate of community partners and activities this year, said Ellen "Stevie" Lewis '09, stormwater campaign coordinator. New organizations to look for at the festival include the Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Big Spring Watershed Association.
Among the Dickinson student groups on hand will be EarthNow!, coordinating a Stormwater Soup activity; Rotaract (a student program of Rotary International), leading a children's-book reading; and Students Interested in Sustainable Agriculture dishing up locally made and college-farm goodies, said Anthony Silverman '12, student festival coordinator. Arts Haus will be hosting a face- and finger-painting table, and the Arts Collective will be recycling last year's activity—Recycled Art.
Highlights include:
- Art Zone—award-winning, juried artwork with environmental or aquatic themes by regional artists and by student artists Flannery Peterson '09 and Samantha Stahl '12, winner of Dickinson's Focus the Nation Art Challenge
- Community Zone—local environmental initiatives in the Cumberland Valley region, including the LeTort Stormwater Education Campaign
- Entertainment Zone—multiple performances, including the Dickinson Jazz Ensemble, Dickinson's Syrens, the REACH Dance Group (Respect Education through the Arts Challenge) and the Carlisle High School's Bridge Ride Bluegrass Band
- Family Zone—stream-monitoring demonstrations by ALLARM, tours of LeTort restoration projects and fly-casting instruction by Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited and the Dickinson Angling Society
- Kids Zone—environmentally friendly activities for children, from making pine-cone bird feeders to recycled art and face painting.
Pre-festival activities begin at 9 a.m., when volunteers will participate in a community-wide stream cleanup. State Sen. Pat Vance, Rep. Will Gabig and Don Grell, Carlisle borough council president, will kick off the festivities at 11 a.m. with an inaugural storm-drain marking.
The LeTort Festival is funded by the LeTort Stormwater Education Campaign, a partnership comprising ALLARM, the Borough of Carlisle, Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited and the LeTort Regional Authority. The campaign's purpose is to raise awareness about the effects of stormwater on the LeTort Spring Run and educate LeTort watershed residents about pollution-reduction strategies.