CFWA Activities

Cookeville Nature Fest 2009

Bonnie Newby

Pics by Debbie Eskandarnia (click here for slideshow)

(Bonnie organized both our table at Cane Creek Park and a Rainbarrel workshopt Thursday evening at Tennessee Tech. Thank you, Bonnie!)

(Nature Fest took place April 16 - 19, at Tennessee Technological University and at Cane Creek Park in Cookeville. This annual event is organized by Cookeville Leisure Services.)

I don't know how many people came by the CFWA table at Cane Creek Park, but I think we painted about a hundred faces!  Everyone seemed pretty interested in the rain barrel festival, and I told them to check out the website and let us know if they knew of any places that could use a stream clean-up. 

So much fun!  The kids loved the face painting.  We had two wonderful volunteers, Allison Watts and Mary Ellen Moomaw.  They were great with the kids.

Debbie really got the everyone involved with the enviroscape presentation and I feel like we generated a lot of interest in the watershed.  All in all, we met some really great people and made our presence in the community a little more well known......and learned that we could paint anything from ladybugs to poodles!

The First Cookeville Rainbarrel Festival!

Bonnie Newby (Click here for slideshow!)

The first Cookeville Rainbarrel Festival was fantastic! The event took place on Saturday, April 29 at Cookeville Dogwood Park!  There were over eighty barrels from artists in the community, many of them from pace setters, Tennessee Tech, and local high schools.  They had tremendous success with the silent auction. 

All of the barrels were set up near the ampatheater in Dogwood Park.  It was like walking through an outdoor art gallery.  The barrels were so bright and interesting.  The CFWA tent was staffed by Debbie Eskandarnia, Laura Alex(Cumberland River Compact), our lovely volunteer Mary Ellen, and myself.  These ladies worked so hard to make the rain barrel workshop a success, and it definitely was!  We sold out of our barrels, all 25, and have a list of about thirty more participants for another workshop.  We were thrilled to see all of the community interest and hope to schedule another workshop for the month of June.

This day was full of fun and excitment.  It was a great experience to
meet all of the festival goers and have a chance to introduce them to what we are all about at the CFWA. 

Our thanks go out to the Upper Cumberland Sierra Club Group, the City of Cookeville, the Cumberland River Compact, Coca-Cola Bottling Plant for furnishing the barrels, with special thanks to Lisa Hale, to Pat Coleman, whose Tennessee Tech art class decorated the barrels, and to our CFWA volunteers.  Thank you so much, without you none of this would have been possible.

 

 

Past CFWA Meetings

Rain Gardens and Other Natural Solutions for Stormwater And Water - Dodd Galbreath, Tennessee Department of Agriculture

Natural Infrastructure for a Growing Problem - Vena Jones, Director, Local Officials Curriculum, Cumberland River Compact