Peninsula bird experts Madeline Kalbach and Susan Stauffer will be on hand at the Earth Day Fair to educate about local species and answer questions.

The Long Beach Peninsula will celebrate Earth Day on April 22 with an event featuring music from the Oyster Crackers.

The event runs from 2 p.m,. to 4 p.m. and is geared toward children and families, noted musician and organizer Bette Lu Krause.

It will take place at the River City Playhouse, 127 Lake St. S.E., Ilwaco. Admission is free. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

Krause said the theme is to celebrate the Peninsula’s place in the middle of a 1,500-mile long strip of temperate rainforest which extends from Seward, Alaska to San Francisco.

Madeline Kalbach and Susan Stauffer will share images of birds and show how to get the best from binoculars. Interpretive ranger Aaron Webster will discuss Cape Disappointment State Park.

Retired Washington State University extension agent Kim Patton will host an informational table about the wildlife and ecology of Willapa Bay. JoAnne Webster will lead youngsters in a make-and-take craft session featuring local oyster shells.

And Rita Smith, another Oyster Cracker performer, will display photos of a 20-year land restoration project in eastern Washington completed by her and her husband, Kent.

Earth Day was created in 1970 by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and spearheaded by Denis Hayes, a native of Camas, whose father worked in the Crown Zellerbach mill. It began in the United States and morphed into an international environmental awareness event.

Local sponsors of this year’s event are the River City Playhouse, Bold Art and Coffee, the Peninsula Arts Center, Harmony Soapworks and Okie’s Thriftway.