Green Cambridge brings back its annual nature festival for children and families for the fifth year in 2021, after a hiatus in 2020. The event will be held at Joan Lorentz Park in front of the Cambridge Public Library, beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 6 and ending with a parade that begins at 5:00 p.m. around the perimeter of the park.  The Fly, Buzz, and Hop! Festival features a read-aloud of picture books with a nature/outdoors theme by city leaders. Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui launches this portion of the program at 10:30 a.m.  At 11:30 and 12:45, Kamishibai storyteller Yumi Izuyama performs several stories that take place in Cambridge habitats in Cambridge. The stories will be told in English with Spanish interpretation at 11:30 and with Haitian Creole interpretation at 12:45. 

From 2:45 to 3:30 p.m.  Local jazz musicians Jeff Robinson and Blake Newman will play.

Jeff Robinson is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he studied with saxophonists Bill Pierce and George Garzone. He has studied theatre with the late Oleg Tabakov, Artistic Director of the legendary Moscow Art Theatre Company, and Shakespeare scholar Kristin Linklater. Bassist Blake Newman has performed worldwide with the American Repertory Theater, Gamelan Galak Tika, Armenian jazz/folk group MusAner, Iyeoka Okwawo, the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, and Bruce Katz. He has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and has also performed or recorded with Eva Bittova, David Murray, Evan Ziporyn, John Kelly, Duke Robillard, Charles Neville, Butch Morris, Jon Faddis, and Christian Scott. Newman studied with Gary Peacock, Charlie Haden, and Dave Holland, and holds a B.M. from Berklee College of Music.

 At 4:00 p.m. a Honk! band composed of CRLS students and graduates, Band Land Brass Band, will perform. The band will lead the concluding parade. 

Children who attend the festival will be able to make puppets of local species of insects that pollinate plants in Cambridge from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. to carry or wear in the parade. All-day art activities include banner-making, jewelry-making, and nature journal-making.

   A Citizen-Science Insect Walk will be held for teens and adults at 10:30 by Claire O’Neill, Executive Director of Earthwise Aware.  Earthwise Aware  (EwA) connects urban communities to the surprising variety, ingenuity and interconnectedness of nature through public nature walks and biodiversity citizen science.  These events nurture new natural history enthusiasts, conservation stewards and ecology advocates.  EwA sponsors ecological projects by training community volunteers to collect detailed, quality climate and ecosystem data at several established field sites, primarily in Massachusetts.

A family-friendly insect walk will be held at 2:00 by Dr. Amy Mertl of Lesley University. Space is limited, on a first-come, first- served basis,  for both walks.

The event is produced by Green Cambridge and supported by Cambridge Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.