Amazing Earthfest: Celebrating National and State Parks, National Forests, Monuments, and Public Lands of the American West.

Enhance your connection to Mother Earth. Amazing Earthfest features lots of exciting events, beginning, May 14, 2023! We organize a thought provoking, informative, mission-driven, educational festival for all ages connecting people to nature and the gorgeous landscapes of southern Utah and northern Arizona. Enjoy arts, culture, documentary film, live entertainment, presentations and guided outdoor adventures amidst some of the world's most beautiful scenery. Meet new friends.

Schedule of Events:

May 14, 2023

10:30 am - 1:00 pm: Outdoor Adventure - Hike the Tilted Mesa Trails

This highly scenic, newly developed mountain biking and hiking trail system on varied natural surfaces offers an easy to moderate hiking experience while sporting expansive views of the colorful cliffs of the Grand Staircase. Bring your own water and snacks.

Location: Kane County Office of Tourism, 78 South 100 East, Kanab.

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Community - Invocation To Sustainability

Gather for a hearty welcome to the 17th annual Amazing Earthfest in this opening event combining music, poetry, meditation and stories. Join together to launch a week of personal discovery and exploration of spirit, ethics and ideas revealing the resilience and beauty of the natural world.

6:00 pm - 6:47 pm: Films - Our Story (documentary film)

Topic: Protecting Greater Chaco

Description: Dine and Pueblo people directly impacted by oil and gas extraction in the Greater Chaco region have been organizing for generations. But rarely is the story told from their perspectives. Over 90 percent of the available lands in the Greater Chaco region of the Southwest have already been leased for oil and gas extraction. Our Story documents ongoing Indigenous-led work to protect the remaining lands untouched by oil and gas, as well as the health and well being of communities surrounded by these extractive industries.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

7:45 pm - 9:30 pm:  Films - The Letter (documentary film)

Topic: Climate Activists meet Pope Francis

Humanity has lived on this planet and observed it for thousands of years. We've learned a lot. We didn't call it ecology. We didn't call it conservation. We just felt that somehow there was something more wonderful, more mysterious, majestic and powerful. We called it Sacred.

In Laudato Si, his powerful encyclical on caring for the Earth, Pope Francis states, "There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself." We can bring that sacred back by tapping into our deep need to feel that there are some places where the veil between heaven and earth is gossamer thin.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

10:00 pm - 10:29 pm: Films - Down to Earth (documentary film)

Topic: The Astronauts' Perspective

The International Space Station orbiting our Earth every 90 minutes offers humanity a remarkable opportunity to observe our home planet from 250 miles above its surface. Hear the heartwarming stories and thought provoking perspectives of astronauts who have flown missions on the space station as they express their deeply personal, often transformational experiences of the precariousness of life in space and the magnificent beauty of Earth, the only habitable planet we know.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

10:30 pm - 12:00 am: Community and Night Sky - Mother's Day Stars, Venus & Mars

Children's imagination soars when they look up into a starry night sky. This event is designed just for them. See planets and stars magnified with astronomical binoculars and telescopes provided by Kanab's Stellar Vista Observatory. Close-up views of Venus, Mars and the stars, star clusters and galaxies of the spring sky are astonishing to behold. Former planetarium director, author, and astronomy interpreter Von Del Chamberlain will share delightful stories about the constellations from differing cultural backgrounds. Bathrooms are available on location.

Location: Jackson Flat Reservoir Boat Launch Parking Area.

May 15, 2023

11:00 am - 6:00 pm: Outdoor Adventure - Hike Hackberry Canyon to Yellow Rock

Join public lands advocate Chris Gorzalski and Great Old Broads for Wilderness (Southwest Utah Chapter) for a moderate 5-mile hike over varied terrain. Expect some water in Hackberry Canyon, a very steep climb (and descent) of the Cockscomb ridge, and another climb up the sandstone dome of Yellow Rock. Cottonwood Rd. may be impassable if there has been recent rain. In that case, an alternate hike will be found. Bring lunch, snacks, hat, sunscreen, sunglasses and plenty of water.

Location: Hackberry Canyon Trailhead, Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument

1:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Community - Reset: The Game

These days, the world is moving faster than any of us can handle on an ongoing basis. This game gives a person the chance to experience stopping the world, so you get a chance to let the dust clear, look things over, find your footing, and consider how to proceed from here. You'll be back in action soon enough. Of course you will. But for now, why not come stop and rest and ponder for a bit. Scout Wilkins guides people to understand and love unfamiliar territory, so they relax, have fun and connect. Her primary delight is in helping people play inside the territory of their own curiosity and creative imagination, bringing the energy and excitement of wonder, possibility and trust back to life.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main Street, Kanab, Utah

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Films - The Teakettle Experiment (documentary film)

Topic: Restoring Forest Health

A century of fire suppression has significantly changed many western forests, leaving them overcrowded and susceptible to disease, pests, and catastrophic crown fires that endanger lives and property. Experts agree that reducing fuel loads in our forests lessen the chances of forest devastation. But until the Teakettle Experiment, conducted jointly with the U.S. Forest Service, deciding which method for doing so remained controversial. This film documents a ten-year collaboration between forest managers and scientists from diverse disciplines investigating the effects of prescribed fire and forest thinning on restoring forest health. Special features include small mammals and forest ecology; climate change and forest management; science and forest management; pests, pathogens and drought; and forest restoration.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

9:30 pm - 10:22 pm: Films - 12th Hour (documentary film)

Topic: Human Responses to Climate Change

Much of our population currently lives with hopeful delusions about climate change. These delusions, many of which have developed naturally as part of human evolution, hamper our ability to meaningfully address a problem with the spatial and temporal scope of climate change. While our brains adapted to meet the immediate challenges encountered by threats to our short-term survival, the biological wiring for a long-term threat like climate change simply has not developed in equal measure.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

10:30 pm - 11:39 pm: Outdoor Adventure - The Nature Makers (documentary film)

Topic: Extreme Conservation

In the 21st century, defending the wild often paradoxically requires technology and aggressive human intervention. The Nature Makers is a moving portrait of passionate people and the extraordinary creatures whose existence they fight for. It's a story of how we found ourselves on the brink of losing so much of the natural world, yet it charts an optimistic, though unmistakably challenging path forward.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

May 16, 2023

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm: Science & Land - What Did the Owl Eat Last Night?

Meet a real live owl up close and personal while it stands at rest, safely tethered to its handler's arm. It's a wild and wonderful photo op for your family and friends! For the curiously adventuresome, tools will be provided to enable you to dissect an owl pellet and see for yourself, just what the owl ate the night before. It's safe to get close because this bird won't fly from Kathy's arm, but you'll want to be sure and wash your hands after dissecting a pellet!

Location: Jacob Hamblin Park small Pavilion, north end of 100 East in Kanab.

2:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Outdoor Adventure - Lunch Hike on the Greenhalgh Trail

Join Bureau of Land Management Paria District Manager Harry Barber for a lunchtime hike on the Greenhalgh Trail, just north of Kanab. This is a relatively flat, loop hike totaling approximately 2.5 – 3.0 miles. Bring your lunch, water and appropriate clothing for the weather conditions. Wear comfortable shoes for hiking.

Location: Greenhalgh Trailhead

5:30 pm - 6:30 pm: Science & Land - Electricity In Transition

Learn about the future of reliable electric power from Bryant Shakespear, Chief Operating Officer for Garkane Energy, a rural electric cooperative serving southern Utah and the Northern Arizona Strip. The Cooperative serves four national parks, two national monuments, a national recreation area, three national forests, and several districts of BLM land, including over 15,000 members across a 16,000 square mile service area.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

7:30 pm - 9:00 pm: Films - The Ants and the Grasshopper (documentary film)

Anita Chitaya has a gift; she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real.

Traveling from Malawi through the United States and to the White House, she meets climate skeptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across the rural urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, to the thinking that allows Americans to believe we live on a different planet from everyone else. It will take all her skill and experience to persuade us that we’re all in this together.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

9:00 pm - 9:56 pm:  Films - Duty of Care: The Climate Trials (documentary film)

See the story of Roger Cox, the first and only lawyer to have successfully sued both a government and an oil giant in landmark court cases that established climate inaction can be made illegal. His ground-breaking case against the Dutch government and oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has been foundational in determining that even private entities owe a duty of care to citizens to avoid catastrophic climate change, which stunned legal experts and sent shockwaves through parliaments and corporate boardrooms around the world.

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

10:30 pm - 12:15 am: Films - Once You Know (documentary film)

Today, like a ship entering the storm, industrial civilization faces the first symptoms of energy depletion and climate change induced collapse as scientists assert that the opportunity to prevent catastrophic climate change has passed. Are some ways of collapsing better than others?

"A loving, beautifully crafted, deeply evocative film, if one can use those words to describe the poetic personal journey of Emmanuel Cappellin through his fear of inevitable global ecological collapse and chaos to his belief that only a vision of local, community resilience and a transition to new ways of living, creating, and organizing can save us. For those of us working on the edge of this collapse and hopefully this transition, once you know you can never unknow. You can only act."

Location: Kanab City Library community meeting room, 374 North Main St, Kanab, Utah

May 17, 2023

11:00 am - 1:30 pm: Science & Land - Interpretive Hike to Dinosaur Tracks

Hike to the Early Jurassic dinosaur tracks just off Kanab's Bunting Trail, followed by a moderately strenuous ascent to the top of the mesa for gorgeous views and a brief snack break, then return by the same route. For those who have energy left to go farther, make a short trip to another early Jurassic dino tracksite north of Kanab, at a point near the UDOT Port of Entry. Bring plenty of water, snacks, sunscreen, sturdy footwear, a hat, and keep an eye out for wildflowers!

Location: Gather at the Earthfest Information Table, Kane County Office of Tourism, 78 South 100 East, Kanab, or meet at Bunting Trailhead.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm: Science & Land - Silviculture on the North Kaibab

Join USDA Forest Service silviculture staff and learn how a variety of treatments are critical to forest health during a tour of forestry projects on the North Kaibab Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest. Discover how different forest management strategies such as timber sales, thinning, prescribed fire, and other methods promote forest health and resilience. Tour area will be in the vicinity of Jacob Lake.

Location: Kaibab Plateau Visitor Center at Jacob Lake

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm: Arts & Culture - Poetry Circle in the Gallery

 Join regional poets for an insightful live circle reading of original works reflecting the ideals and practice of caring for our common home and the life-sustaining gifts of Mother Earth. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own poetry, and invited to read aloud provided poetry. Home made cookies and drinks provided.

Location: Raven's Heart Gallery, 57 West Center St., Kanab

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm: Community - Potluck Social Dinner Party

 Enjoy feasting together at an outdoor Potluck Dinner Party for friends, presenters and supporters of southern Utah's Amazing Earthfest. From snacks to desserts, this is a community-building event where resident and visiting festival goers meet organizers, volunteers and contributors, artists, authors, musicians and scientists who present the events that you enjoy. Whether you're omnivore or vegan, bring your favorite home-cooked recipe and enjoy a festive atmosphere and conversation.

Location: Jacob Hamblin Park small Pavilion, north end of 100 East in Kanab.

9:30 pm - 10:45 pm: Arts & Culture - Earth Festival Chamber Concert

Cost: Adults $25.00 in advance or $30 at the door. Students $5:00; Children under 10 free.

On this occasion, Joel Rosenberg will make his eighth appearance at Southern Utah's 17th annual Amazing Earthfest. Mr. Rosenberg, viola, accompanied by Ruth Sherwood Sadasivan, violin, will present a live performance of works by Bach, Mozart, and Handel, including two suites by J.S. Bach for solo viola representing some of the greatest music written by Bach. Duos for violin and viola will feature music by Mozart and Handel.

Mr. Rosenberg is a graduate of Juilliard and a 2023 recipient of the Utah Governor's Mansion Award in the Arts. During his career he received a Fulbright Grant to Rome, Italy, where he studied at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, and is an Individual Artist Grant recipient from the State of Utah.

Location: Bingham Gallery, Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts, US Route 89, Mt. Carmel, Utah

May 18, 2023

11:30 am - 1:30 pm: Community - The Ecosystem Right at Home

This event will be presented by Dr. Victoria Yedan Xiong, Utah State University Kane County Extension assistant professor specializing in horticulture and small farm agriculture. Join Vicki to learn about water-wise ornamental flower care, beneficial insects and their ecosystem building, rainwater harvesting, and more.

Location: Kane County Hospital Ambulance Shed, at the North end of 100 West in Kanab. Enter from 300 North.

1:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Science & Land - Picnic Lunch at Eagle Sink

Enjoy a leisurely picnic lunch beside a geological wonder with Geologist Colter Davis, Department of Geosciences, Utah State University. Cold non-alcoholic beverages will be provided but bring your own lunch. This event takes place 23 miles east of Kanab at the edge of a chasm in the limestone formations of Buckskin Mountain, known as Eagle Sink.

8:00 pm - 10:00 pm: Community - Open Mic at Nomad Cafe & Retro RV Resort

Before a scheduled presentation on Light Pollution by University of Utah South Physics Observatory Interpretive Specialist, Paul Ricketts, at 8:00pm, The Nomad Cafe & Retro RV Resort will host an "Open Mic" from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM with good food, stories, music and more. Free and open to all!

10:00 pm - 1:00 am: Community, Science & Land, and Night Sky - Light Pollution and the Stars

Join the Director of the South Physics Observatory and Interpretive Specialist in Astronomy for the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Utah, Paul Ricketts, for a multimedia presentation and discussion on excess light at night including the latest science on light pollution, followed by a telescopic tour of southern Utah’s starry night sky.

Before Paul's astronomy presentation, The Nomad Cafe & Retro RV Resort will host an "Open Mic" from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM with good food, stories, music and more. Free and open to all!

Location:  The Nomad Cafe, 2150 N Hwy 89, Kanab

May 19, 2023

10:30 am - 12:30 pm:  Outdoor Adventure - Bird Walk at Jackson Flat Reservior

Join a couple of experienced birding enthusiasts for a walk on the paved path around Jackson Flat Reservoir, spotting and identifying the different species of beautiful birds that pause in Kanab on their migrations through southern Utah. In past years we've seen stilts, avocets, herons, swallows, pelicans, gulls, blackbirds, cormorants, geese, ducks and warblers. Let's find your favorite! Dogs on leash are welcome. Bring a snack, hat, sunscreen and your own binoculars.

Location: Meet at Jackson Flat Reservoir Boat Ramp parking area off Kaneplex Drive in Kanab.

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Arts & Culture - Artists of Raven's Heart Gallery

Experience the creations of 25 regional artists inspired by the flora and fauna of the Colorado Plateau. Join others for a fun informal meet and greet; get acquainted with an artist; view beautiful artwork; learn about their creative process and chat with gallery staff. Meet both Raven's Heart Gallery co-owners: Gary Kalpakoff and Cyrus Mejía! Among the artists who will be present for this occasion are Josh Baird, Carol Bold, Connie Gates, Gary Kalpakoff, David Lane, Abe McCowan, Cyrus Mejía, and David Pettit. Come learn about the gorgeous artwork inspired by this special part of the planet, meet the friendly artists and enjoy tasty refreshments during this event! The gallery is open every day during the festival.

Location: Raven's Heart Gallery, 57 West Center St., Kanab

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm: Science & Land - Plight Of Utah's Great Salt Lake

Utah's Great Salt Lake is a natural wonder, critical stopover for migrating birds, valuable economic resource, and an icon for millions living in the intermountain West. But it's in crisis! The lake has shrunk to the lowest levels ever recorded. Through rigorous journalism, innovative storytelling and unique community outreach, the Great Salt Lake Collaborative explores solutions to save this critical body of water.

Location: Kane County Water Conservancy District, 725 East Kaneplex Drive, Kanab, Utah

5:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Science & Land - Endangered Species of Pipe Spring National Monument

Come join rangers at Pipe Spring for a talk about threatened and endangered species found in and around Pipe Spring National Monument. We'll chat about plants and animals, what makes these rare species so special, and how we can help protect them. If we're lucky, we might even get to see a few of the Monument's unique plants and animals! This event will be stationary, outside on the back patio or indoors in the theater if there is inclement weather. No special materials are needed except your water bottle and sun protection.

Cost: Regular entrance fees apply: $10.00/adult 16 and over. Holders of the American the Beautiful Interagency Annual, Senior, Access, or Military Pass, and up to three companions get in free.

Location: Pipe Spring National Monument, 14 miles west of Fredonia, AZ

7:00 pm - 10:00 pm: Community and Arts & Culture - Salt Gulch All Stars at the Willow

Come celebrate the continuing presence of Kanab's Amazing Earthfest, now in it's 17th year, providing ways for people in southern Utah who love nature to meet one another and build community together. Enjoy live music performed by the Salt Gulch All Stars while visiting one of Kanab's coolest downtown destinations. The Willow Canyon Outdoor is the place in Kanab to gear up for great adventures, grab a savory coffee, and get books by some of the West's finest conservation authors.

11:00 pm - 1:00 am:  Community, Science & Land, and Night Sky - Endangered Species Day Star Party

Each year on the third Friday in May, The National Wildlife Federation celebrates Endangered Species Day. Learn why, in addition to thousands of species of plants and animals, even the visibility of the stars in the night sky is rapidly becoming an "endangered species". Reducing wasted light at night benefits wildlife by helping to safeguard access to natural darkness, a vital aspect of habitat for wildlife and people.

May 20, 2023

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm: Science & Land and Night Sky - Black Holes: Deep in the Cosmos with an Astronomer

Delve into one of the greatest mysteries of the cosmos with astrophysicist Paul Ricketts from the cozy ambiance of a European-style bakery. Paul is Director of the South Physics Observatory and Interpretive Specialist in Astronomy for the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Utah. Enjoy this mind bending experience while sampling delicious pastries, sandwiches, salads & espresso.

Location: Kanab Creek Bakery, 238 W Center St, Kanab, UT

7:00 pm - 1:00 am: Outdoor Adventure and Night Sky - Afternoon Hike, Supper, & Star Party

This event combines an undulating and very scenic late afternoon hike of approximately 2 miles in a wilderness study area of aeolian sand dunes containing relict communities of old growth Ponderosa Pine near Kanab, with a catered picnic supper and an opportunity to explore the night sky from a superbly dark location. After visiting the ancient and stately pines, some well over 300 years of age, we'll return to camp to meet amateur and professional astronomers from the Stellar Vista Observatory, and enjoy a delicious hot supper before viewing the night sky through powerful telescopes. Anyone wishing to skip the hike but enjoy the field supper and stargazing is welcome, too!

Location: BLM Ponderosa Campground, Hancock Road.

8:30 pm - 1:00 am: Arts & Culture - Centennial Celebration of Pipe Spring National Monument

Enjoy a night celebrating the connection between sound and nature! Daniel Bulletts, Director at Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, will start the evening festivity with traditional drumming and dance. Kanab's Symphony of the Canyons will perform between the hours of 6:00 pm and 7:30 pm Arizona Time (7:00 pm and 8:30 pm Utah Time). Then, rangers will break out the telescopes and share stories and science of the night sky. This event is in Arizona (MST) and is outside so bring warm layers. Attendees must bring their own chairs or blanket for seating on the grass. Red flashlights or headlamps are highly recommended. No admission fee for this event, donations accepted.

Location: Kaibab Paiute RV Park, 406 N Pipe Spring Rd, Kaibab, AZ

10:00 pm - 2:00 am: Science & Land, Arts & Culture, and Night Sky - Astrophotography! Field Workshop with an Expert

Nighttime photography done well is a tricky endeavor. This field workshop will provide practical instruction for capturing night sky images including equipment and techniques for intermediate and advanced photographers.

Date: May 14-20, 2023

Location: Various Venues in Kanab, UT 84741

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