Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 08/01/2011 11:28 PM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 08/17/2011 01:45 PM
Expires: 01/01/2016 12:00 AM
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Family Day 2011 at Calaveras Big Trees State Park Coming Up This Weekend!~With Photos and Video of 2010 Event!
Calaveras Big Trees State Park, CA..... Calaveras Big Trees Association will host the annual Family Day celebration at the park on Saturday, August 20th. Events include demonstration booths, crafts, carriage rides, storytelling, demonstrations of native cultures, music and outdoor activities beginning at 10 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m. .....
Over 100 Photos Above and Video is Enclosed of 2010 Event~by Dylan Richardson
Family Day is a celebration of the park and its surrounding communities, sponsored by the nonprofit CBTA as a “thank you” to the public for supporting one of the state’s premier state parks. The special day draws large crowds every year, and shuttle buses will be available inside the park to reduce the walk from parking lots.
The normal admission price of $8 per vehicle will be a donation to CBTA to support educational and interpretive programs in the park year round. All donations to CBTA stay in the park. In the past year the non-profit, through members and donations from the public, provided money to support children’s programs, seminars, workshops, scholarships, internships, trail clearing tools, and the salaries of seasonal park employees. In addition, last year CBTA donated $500,000 toward construction of a new Visitor Center now under construction.
The park contains picnic areas, miles of hiking trails, snow-fed streams, conifer forests, campgrounds, two rare Giant Sequoia groves and has been a popular tourist attraction since 1853.
Activities this year include a chance to hold reptiles, guided walks, a live raptor program, and a wildlife education group called “Wild Things” that will bring rescued mammals unable to return to the wild.
Activities also include: Search and Rescue team members, the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum and First Five (with a project for preschoolers).
Other events returning this year include: “cocked hat bowling”, which replicates bowling in the Gold Rush era, the Great Mother Lode Brass and Reed Band, fly fishing demonstrations, face painting, fire truck demonstration, and hands-on craft events and a project by artists from “Arts of Bear Valley.”
The band “Passin’ Thru” will play in the picnic area behind Jack Knight Hall. Barbecue lunches and cold drinks will be offered by the Arnold Moose Lodge. Ice cream and donated baked goods will also be available for purchase.
Family Day 2011 also marks the kickoff of a campaign by CBTA to reduce the use of disposable plastic water bottles in the park. The bottles, even when some are recycled, create hundreds of pounds of garbage and waste every year. Reusable water bottles with the Calaveras logo will be available for only $1.50.
Calaveras Big Trees State Park is located at 4,800 feet altitude on Highway 4 in Calaveras County, between Arnold and Camp Connell.
