Every year, this local creek transforms into an enchanting, twinkling forest.
The annual event is part of the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival, which celebrates the local community and arts within the natural world.
The festival will kick off on Sept. 9 with the Wetlands BioBlitz, an eco-adventure where attendees can learn about wetlands, make rope from plants, and enjoy free food at Slocan Park.
A series of low-cost creative workshops will take place between Sept. 10 and Sept. 20 at Slocan Community Hall, leading up to the main festival day on Sept. 23. Curious folks can try making a botanical cyanotype lantern, electronic LED lantern, and tree-inspired costumes.
On Sept. 13, the newly built eco-friendly Cob Garden Shed will host an open-air gallery of naturally dyed fabrics accompanied by live music.
In celebration of the Autumn Equinox, the festival will hold a ceremony at the Renfrew Ravine Labyrinth, leading attendees through a mindful walking meditation with earth-based instruments playing healing frequencies.
The biggest day of the festival happens on the first day of fall, on Sept. 23, and will celebrate the new season with musical performances by local artists, drop-in eco-arts workshops, games, community booths, concluding with a sunset parade.
The lantern-filled parade will begin at 7:10 p.m., guiding the crowd along the edge of Renfrew Ravine and into a lantern-lit forest scene, complete with illuminated art, live music, tasty treats, performers on stilts, and costumed actors.
Before the festival wraps up on Sept. 29, two more workshops will take place. On Sept. 27, a Truth and Reconciliation Eco-Arts Workshop will show attendees how to naturally dye orange shirt emblems, and on Sept. 29, another workshop will teach people how to make Mooncakes.
The final event will be held at Renfrew Community Park at sunset on Sept. 29 until 8:30 p.m. The evening performance will feature intergenerational dance, stilt and acrobatic performances, and many other performances.
