Tweets, Paddles, Plants, Festivals, Caches & a Country Tour!

Your Spring Outdoors choices for April 29 – May 5, 2017.

Mayday, mayday, it is almost May Day in The Last Green Valley, and Spring Outdoors moves from woods to water to downtown all over the National Heritage Corridor!

Celebrate by tweeting with family-friendly “Wildflowers, Birds & Insects,” Saturday, April 29^th at Mt. Hope Park, Rte. 89 in Mansfield at 9:30 am. “Plant ID for Beginners” brings us to the woods Sunday, April 30^th at 10 am at the Claire Birtz Sanctuary, just off Rte. 169 over the Woodstock line in Southbridge. Bring a guidebook or borrow one from your public library so we can identify our findings. Spend “Cinco de Mayo” with wetlands birds on Friday, May 5^th from 7 – 8 pm at Hodges Village Dam in Oxford, MA.

Jump in and meet Paddle Killingly on their “Pine Acres Lake Paddle,” Saturday, April 29^th in Hampton, starting at 10 am. This is a flat-water paddling event, great for beginners with a friendly and helpful group. Bring your kayak, PFD (life jacket) and a whistle. Pre-register on the www.meet-up.com/PaddleKillingly site.

“Charlton Day Earth Festival” welcomes you to their town with a scenic drive to get there on Saturday, April 29 from 11 am – 2 pm. Dance around at the “Maypole Celebration” on Sunday, April 30^th from 2 – 4 pm at Joshua’s Trust Atwood Farm in Mansfield. Putnam’s first “First Friday” of the movie-themed season kicks off in style with science fiction and fantasy on Friday, May 5^th from 6 – 9 pm. Downtown Main Street is the setting for this monthly family-friendly, arts-based event.

Modern day explorers will love “Survival Series: Fire Starting” at Goodwin Forest, Sunday, April 30^th at 10 am. Learn skills from brothers who have been wandering the wilderness for years. “Geocaching 101” offers a hidden world waiting to be discovered on Sunday, April 30^th from 10 am – 2 pm at the Air Line Trail in Thompson. A different set of brothers will host this event and share tips about how to discover 1,000+ geocaches in our 35-town region. Hint: bring a GPS or GPS-enabled smart phone and download a free geocaching app ahead of time.

Visit the Anshei Israel Synagogue in Lisbon, featuring interior décor straight from Czarist Russia, at the “Country Synagogue Tour & Talk” on Sunday, April 30^th at 1 pm. Tour the grounds and learn about this unique building, on the National Register of Historic Places.

To get all the Spring Outdoor choices, visit www.thelastgreenvalley.org or TLGV’s Facebook page. New adventures are being added all the time, so be sure to check in often!

The Last Green Valley is a National Heritage Corridor – the last stretch of dark night sky in the coastal sprawl between Boston and Washington, D.C.  The Last Green Valley works for you in the National Heritage Corridor. Together we can care for it, enjoy it and pass it on!