Hillside Festival 2023
El Cerrito’s Hillside Festival will be the first weekend in May. Enjoy the eighth annual Hillside Festival Saturday and Sunday, May 6 and 7, 2023, with more than a dozen hikes and other events scheduled throughout El Cerrito’s 100-acre natural wonderland, the Hillside Natural Area. The festival, put on by El Cerrito Trail Trekkers and co-sponsored by the city’s Environmental Quality Committee, is free to the public.
>>> Click here for the full schedule with its accompanying map to all events. <<<
>>> Click here for Haiku Contest entries. <<<
Among the many events already booked are:
Insect Hike. Eddie Dunbar, founder and president of the Insect Sciences Museum of California, will lead a family-friendly yet erudite hike revealing secrets of the Hillside’s tiniest animals.
Family-friendly Rockhound Gathering. Learn about the geology of the East Bay Hills by seeing and handling local rocks and visiting a few nearby rock outcrops. Members of the Northern California Geological Society will share their knowledge and enthusiasm as we walk to and gather at the Hillside’s labyrinth.
Edible and Medicinal Plant Walk. Learn about ethnobotany — how native plants have been used over the centuries for food, medicine, and crafts with Alan Siegel, a docent at East Bay Regional Park District’s Tilden Botanic Garden. Family-friendly uphill walk. Download the free iNaturalist app to help identify and document what you learn.
Family Friendly Art in the Trees. Let's look closely at the trees around us. Using paint sticks and watercolors, Lucy Ames, El Cerrito artist and Art Camp educator, will guide young artists to create art focusing on shapes of tree trunks and branches in a glade. The project is most suitable for artists 5 and up, but even very young artists can enjoy using non-toxic paint sticks with the help of an adult. Adults are welcome to create too!
Note that an exhibit by Lucy Ames, Beauty in the Branches, can be enjoyed at the El Cerrito Natural Grocery Annex through April 17.
Haiku hike. Celebrate the winners of our festival haiku contest with a walk in the Hillside area. Winners will be awarded prizes at the trailhead and then read their haiku at designated points along the first half mile of walking. After that there are options for a 1 mile round trip hike or a 2 1/2 mile round trip hike. El Cerrito poet laureate, Eevelyn Mitchell, will also read an original poem written for the festival. See below for instructions on how to enter the contest.
Magical Apps Hike. Magical apps make it easy to ID flora and fauna. Join Susan Schwartz, head of Friends of Five Creeks, and Bob Zucker as we try out free apps that help identify plants and animals. Ideal for families and seasoned naturalists. Set up accounts on INaturalist, Merlin, or BirdNet.
>>> Click here for the full schedule with its accompanying map to all events. <<<
>>> Click here for Haiku Contest entries. <<<
Among the many events already booked are:
Insect Hike. Eddie Dunbar, founder and president of the Insect Sciences Museum of California, will lead a family-friendly yet erudite hike revealing secrets of the Hillside’s tiniest animals.
Family-friendly Rockhound Gathering. Learn about the geology of the East Bay Hills by seeing and handling local rocks and visiting a few nearby rock outcrops. Members of the Northern California Geological Society will share their knowledge and enthusiasm as we walk to and gather at the Hillside’s labyrinth.
Edible and Medicinal Plant Walk. Learn about ethnobotany — how native plants have been used over the centuries for food, medicine, and crafts with Alan Siegel, a docent at East Bay Regional Park District’s Tilden Botanic Garden. Family-friendly uphill walk. Download the free iNaturalist app to help identify and document what you learn.
Family Friendly Art in the Trees. Let's look closely at the trees around us. Using paint sticks and watercolors, Lucy Ames, El Cerrito artist and Art Camp educator, will guide young artists to create art focusing on shapes of tree trunks and branches in a glade. The project is most suitable for artists 5 and up, but even very young artists can enjoy using non-toxic paint sticks with the help of an adult. Adults are welcome to create too!
Note that an exhibit by Lucy Ames, Beauty in the Branches, can be enjoyed at the El Cerrito Natural Grocery Annex through April 17.
Haiku hike. Celebrate the winners of our festival haiku contest with a walk in the Hillside area. Winners will be awarded prizes at the trailhead and then read their haiku at designated points along the first half mile of walking. After that there are options for a 1 mile round trip hike or a 2 1/2 mile round trip hike. El Cerrito poet laureate, Eevelyn Mitchell, will also read an original poem written for the festival. See below for instructions on how to enter the contest.
Magical Apps Hike. Magical apps make it easy to ID flora and fauna. Join Susan Schwartz, head of Friends of Five Creeks, and Bob Zucker as we try out free apps that help identify plants and animals. Ideal for families and seasoned naturalists. Set up accounts on INaturalist, Merlin, or BirdNet.
Page top image: Neil Patterson and Demetrius Buchanan spot Bay Area sights from the Hillside Natural Area
Photo and identifications utilized with parental permission
Photo and identifications utilized with parental permission