ORONO – Noel Paul Stookey, member of the celebrated folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, will highlight the annual HOPE Festival 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at the University of Maine field house.

Stookey will perform at 1 p.m. Saturday at the free event.

Also featured will be:

. Jazz with “A Train” at 11 a.m.

. 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,” at noon.

. Folk and rock music with Doug Crate at 2 p.m.

. Juggling with Zachary Field at 2:30 p.m.

. The joyful sounds of the teenage steel band group, Planet Pans, at 3 p.m.

The HOPE Festival is sponsored by the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, University of Maine peace studies program, University of Maine women’s studies program, Women in the Curriculum, UMaine Recycles and Maine Peace Action Committee.

Organizers said they wanted to thank Derek Mitchell, student entertainment coordinator, for sharing Bumstock sound and staging with the HOPE Festival.

Bumstock will be held Saturday evening at the field house.

As in the past, the HOPE Festival will offer a variety of educational and fun craft and activity tables for children provided by the Hudson Museum, Windover Arts Center and others:

. Story-telling with Alan Sockabasin, Passamaquoddy language educator, at 10:45 a.m.

. New Creation Dancers at 12:15 p.m.

. “Be a Tree” yoga for the family with Sandy Cyrus at 12:30 p.m.

. Global Links presentation at 1:45 p.m.

. 5K Fun Run at 11 a.m. with registration at 10:45 a.m. inside the field house.

Members of the University of Maine Solar Vehicle Team will display their cars.

Delicious, mostly organic food will be for sale.

“Each spring the HOPE – Help Organize Peace Earthwide – Festival renews the hope we all have for a peaceful and sustainable future,” organizers said. 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 organizations working to take care of the Earth and each other in communities.

This year more than 70 organizations, 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 their time, energy and talent to make this special day possible. The HOPE Festival has grown over the years and the University of Maine Field House will accommodate this growth.

“Each year we see more families and students from many communities come to enjoy a day of live music, fun activities, interesting information and great food,” said Ilze Petersons of the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine. “We hear so much distressing news about war and disasters, but the HOPE Festival offers positive alternatives and chance to celebrate our connections to the Earth and to each other.”