2013 Talkeetna Birch Festival is set

TALKEETNA — The three-day Talkeetna Birch Festival is planned this weekend.

The Northern Susitna Institute event features hands-on workshops, seminars, lectures and exhibits suitable for people of all ages and interests.

Presenters include state and national experts in the fields of birch silviculture, birch woodcraft, birch food production, traditional use of birch and birch in art and literature.

The intention of the festival is to raise the awareness of our state’s dependence on Alaska paper birch (Betula neoalaskana) by paying tribute to its beauty, its biology, its historical usage as well as its functional characteristics. Festival presenters include foresters, scientists, writers, artists and a diversity of woodworkers and craftspeople.

Along with workshops all day Saturday at the Northern Susitna Institute campus, a variety show titled “The Art of Birch” is at 8 p.m., Saturday at the Sheldon Community Arts Hangar.

The Big Birch Contest is Sunday, where contestants hope to discover a new state record birch tree.

Products from the Talkeetna One Tree Project also will be exhibited Sunday along with other art crafted and inspired by birch.

For more information, including schedule of events, workshops and presenter biographies, visit bit.ly/152Nd1V.