Get ready for an afternoon of fun and activities geared toward exploring and supporting the natural world! The Town of Rhinebeck is offering this free event at the Thompson-Mazzarella Town Park on April 27, 12-3pm. The Village’s Climate Smart Rhinebeck Task Force is partnering with local nonprofit Dirty Gaia and the Town Recreation Department to organize many special guests and activities.
Roll up your sleeves (help spruce up the pollinator garden!)
Get crafty (make button pins with Starr Library or join the Town Rec Department’s arts table)
Bring your bike for a Bike Rodeo, brought to you by the Rhinebeck Village Police and the Dutchess County Traffic Safety Board.
Watch in wonder (Milo’s Menagerie & a raptor show!)
Learn how to foster Monarch caterpillars and make seed balls (Morton Memorial Library)
Drop off your compost and find out where you can recycle all sorts of stuff.
We’ll have walks too, one with Winnakee Land Trust to ID invasive species, another with a middle school herpetologist who’s already an expert in local amphibians and reptiles.
Wonder how you’ll keep up? Coffee will be on hand (BYO mug) and we’ll have donuts (while supplies last)!
Below is a full schedule of events—but no need to memorize it. We’ll have a list of everything that’s going on when you get to the park. You’ll see signage and activity as you drive down past Starr Library to the main parking lot. Just show up and choose your adventures!
12pm Renew the Pollinator Meadow: Join the gardeners preparing the pollinator-friendly meadow by the tennis courts, readying it for its second season. If you have gardening gloves, all the better!
12 — 12:30pm Check out our forest’s shyest creatures at Milo’s Menagerie:
A local middleschooler and budding herpetologist will give a show-and-tell talk about creatures he’s found in Rhinebeck before his 12:30 guided walk in the woods at the park.
12 — 2pm Spring Crafts with Rhinebeck Town Recreation Department: Meet in the two pavilions by the playgound and get crafty! There will be a seed-potting activity as well.
12 — 3pm Fostering Caterpillars and Making Seed Balls: Join Sandy Bartlett of Morton Memorial Library in Rhinecliff and learn how easy it is to feed and care for Monarch and Swallowtail caterpillars before releasing them. Make seed balls that you can plant in your home garden—or check out seeds from the Library’s Seed collection.
12 — 3pm Operation Zero Waste: There’s not much that can’t be re- or upcycled these days.
Familiarize yourself with the myriad possibilities at our Operation Zero Waste tables.
We’ll be collecting items on site and have info on where you can drop everything else, from old paint (Williams Lumber) to contact lenses (The O Zone). Scan this QR or link to see what you can bring to recycle.
The latest news on the Village Compost site will be on hand, as will Dorna Schroeter’s Biomimicry Display, showing how much we depend on nature’s genius for our artistic and industrial designs.
12 — 3pm Rethink Your Yard & Home: Check out the electric alternatives to snow blowers, leaf blowers and string trimmers and learn all the steps you can take to make your home more efficient, sustainable and resilient. Lots of info on reimagining your lawn, too!
12 — 3 pm Bike Rodeo:
The Rhinebeck Police Department is setting up a bicycle obstacle course—BYO bikes and helmets—and giving out pro safety tips. They’ll give your bike and helmet a free once-over to make sure it’s working properly and road-safe.
Photo by wittco.gmbh
12 — 3pm Speaking of bikes…Starr’s Book Bike will be on hand, loaded with eco books waiting to be checked out.
12:30pm Herpetology Walk with BMS student Milo—Meet the amphibians and reptiles who call the Town Park home.
1:30pm Birds of Prey Show with Brian Robinson. Brian, an acclaimed falconer who has worked on stage and screen, will bring a selection of his birds and demonstrate their remarkable traits and capabilities.
2pm Invasive Species ID Walk with Winnakee Land Trust. Learn to identify the plants that may be robbing native species of their traditional habitat and how to remove them.
