ORONO – This year’s HOPE Festival will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at the University of Maine Memorial Gym Field House.

The highlight of the festival will be a solo performance by Noel Paul Stookey, a member of the celebrated folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary.

Also featured will be:

. Baraka Oyuru, who was born in southern Sudan and released an album of world music and songs about the plight of Sudan, called “Running Away Children.”

. Cool jazz with “A” Train.

. Juggling with Zachary Field.

. Folk and blues music with Doug Crate.

. The joyful sounds of the teenage steel band Planet Pans.

As in past years, a variety of educational and fun entertainment for children, provided and organized by Katie Greenman and Anne Hayes-Grillo, will be part of the festival.

Activities include storytelling with Alan Sockabasin, Passmaquoddy music and language educator; New Creation Dancers led by Sandra Hutchinson; Be a Tree Yoga with Sandy Cyrus, and a craft and activity tables organized by Global Links, the Hudson Museum, Windover Arts Center and others.

For fitness fans, Jud Esty-Kendall and Katrina Bisheimer are organizing a 5K Fun Run beginning at 11 a.m. The University of Maine Solar Vehicle team will display their cars. Delicious, mostly organic food coordinated by Tammy Olson and Maria Girouard will be for sale.

Phyllis Brazee and Ellen Woodhead of peace studies at the University of Maine are helping to co-sponsor the festival. Derek Mitchell, organizer for Bumstock to be held Saturday evening after the HOPE Festival, is helping with the sound system and staging.

Each spring the HOPE – which stands for Help Organize Peace Earthwide – Festival renews the hope for a peaceful and sustainable future. Helen Nearing was the featured speaker at the first HOPE Festival 12 years ago.

Earth Day was organized more than 30 years ago to raise awareness about the need to take care of the earth and practice conservation. The HOPE Festival has expanded to raise awareness around Earth Day about the many organizations working to take care of the earth and each other in our communities.

More than 70 organizations at the festival, working in their own ways for a better world, will share information, sell buttons, T-shirts and other products, and encourage participant involvement.

The festival is free because many volunteers, including the performers, donate time, energy and talent to make the day possible.