ATHENS – The eighth annual Wildgathering! a three-day celebration of the Earth, will be held Friday through Sunday, May 28-30, at the Athens Fairgrounds on Route 150.

Sponsor Gail Edwards of Blessed Maine Herb Farm said Tuesday that the event originally was created to focus on threatened and endangered species of plants.

“But this has truly blossomed and its focus now is on personal, community and planetary survival,” she said.

Throughout Memorial Day weekend, more than 50 presenters from New England, all experts in their fields, will provide workshops and demonstrations.

Edwards said there will also be “a marketplace lush with plants, herbal products and Earth-friendly goods, great music, great food, puppet shows, evening campfires, community spirit and lots of inspiration for body, mind, and spirit.”

Admission to Wildgathering! is free, said Edwards, and many of the workshops also are free. For those workshops that charge a fee, all profits will be sent to Terry Allen in Bhopal, India, who operates a children’s clinic.

Edwards said this follows the event’s tradition of providing support annually to a group or community that works with children.

Some of the topics that will be covered include meeting the wild medicine plants, in honor of the moontime, cooking with wild herbs, wild edibles, making mushroom medicine, building a solar herb and vegetable dehydrator and transcendental healing.

Primitive camping is available at Wildgatherings! for a small fee.

A schedule of events and a full list of presenters and workshops can be found at www.wildgathering.com.