Buckhannon River Fest to honor founder April Pearson Keating with tree and plaque

BUCKHANNON – The 10th annual Buckhannon River Fest will honor its founder, the late April Pearson Keating, with a new tree and plaque recognizing her efforts to preserve the Buckhannon River.

Kevin Campbell, organizer of the Buckhannon River Fest, said the Aug. 29 celebration of the Buckhannon River will take place at the River Walk throughout the day with various activities, including paddling, yoga, live music powered by solar energy, food, community art, environmental education and more.

“This will be the sixth one since April passed away. She started it because people were complaining that other organizations were too negative, because we were talking about the dangers of pipeline construction and what it could do to our sole source of water in this community since we have no backup,” Campbell said. “Somebody got through to her that the messaging was always so negative, so we decided to have a celebration of our water.”

The Buckhannon River Fest takes place every year to raise awareness about the importance of the Buckhannon River and to encourage people to appreciate the nature around it.

“This is held in the spirit of increasing our community water connections and to honor April Pearson Keating, a passionate advocate who worked tirelessly to make West Virginia a healthier place to live,” Campbell said. “The goal of River Fest is to increase our awareness and discover new sustainable connections to foster healthy waters, lands and communities. The Buckhannon River is our main source of drinking water in Upshur County, and we must do everything we can to protect it.”

The day is filled with activities, including paddling down the river from Hampton Park to the River Walk, with shuttles starting at 8:30 a.m. A full schedule of events during River Fest can be found on the Buckhannon River Watershed Association Facebook Page.

“Every year we invite people to bring water from home, so that in the tradition of First Nations people and our Indigenous people, when they visit other tribes, they bring water from home, the water that sustains them, and everybody puts their water together in a bowl, and the water is blessed,” Campbell said.

“We will have an interfaith water blessing at 3 p.m., and then in previous years, people would take some of that water home with them, and what was left over, we would return to the river,” he continued. “Last year people said we shouldn’t be returning that water to the river because it came from other watersheds, and we could be moving invasive species from one watershed to another by doing it.”

So Campbell came up with a new idea for that water.

“Shortly after River Fest last year, I went to the Consolidated Public Works Board, and I asked if we could plant a tree near the River Walk in April’s memory, so this leftover water could be poured on her tree,” he said.

Campbell said he collaborated with City of Buckhannon horticulturist Dixie Green and Dr. Kathy Gregg, the curator of the Nature Park and Learning Trail at the River Walk, to choose the correct type of tree to honor Keating.

“They recommended planting a yellow birch tree, so Bobby Gompers planted it for us Monday, and it is right next to the boat launch ramp,” Campbell said.

Seth Maynard and the Elk River Ramblers will provide live music for the festivities, and there will be an array of child-friendly activities.

“Tom Lynch is going to take them on a nature walk and explain all the different trees and nature along the river. There will be painting rocks and coloring water-related pictures, and the balloon guy from Festival Fridays will be there,” Campbell said.

“We will also have free food. Sam’s Pizza donated a lot of pizza, and we’re also going to have some bag lunches from Heather’s group at the Presbyterian Church, the Appalachian Collective.”