HOPE Festival activities move to UM Field House

ORONO – This year’s HOPE festival to celebrate Earth Day and people’s connections to one another will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 23, at the University of Maine Field House. The festival has been moved to the field house to provide a larger venue for the growing number of organizations that participate.

Co-sponsors of the free festival include the University of Maine Department of Facilities Management and Sustainability, the UMaine Student Environmental Action Coalition and the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine.

The new venue will bring together all the entertainment on one stage so adults and children of all ages may enjoy storytelling, music and puppetry together.

The line-up of performers includes:

. The opening ceremony with Penobscot Elder Arnold Neptune.

. Musician Jennifer Armstrong, who tells stories from her Celtic American heritage and plays bagpipes, fiddle, banjo and guitar. She has performed at the National Storytelling Festival, the Suzuki Institute and Rowe Conference Center.

. The Bangor Fiddlers from Bangor High School.

. Storyteller and song-writer Phil Whitehawk.

. Juggler Zachary Field.

. The award-winning duo Emma’s Revolution – who also will perform two benefit concerts for WERU that weekend.

. The Frog Mountain Puppeteers performing “The Legend of the Banana Kid.”

. Doug Crate and the newly formed Voices for Peace, who will close the day.

Throughout the day, Katie Greenman and Anne Hayes-Grillo will coordinate a variety of environmental craft and activity tables for children, provided by the Maine Discovery Museum and Windover Arts Center.

Peter Millard will organize a 5K Fun Run beginning at 11 a.m.

The University of Maine’s solar vehicle team will display their cars and a hybrid car loaned by Hope Brogunier.

Participants will find information available from more than 70 organizations working for peace, justice and a sustainable environment.

Organizations will sell T-shirts, bumper stickers, pins and crafts. Mostly organic food for a variety of tastes also will be for sale.

Volunteers are needed to help with set-up, clean-up, food concession and children’s activities. For more information, call 942-9343 or visit www.peacectr.org.