MARIPOSA – This spring, the Mariposa Arts Council is celebrating National Poetry Month and National Trails Day with two free, public poetry events.
Karyna McGlynn.
First, on April 28, 2022, at 6 p.m., the Arts Council will host a virtual poetry reading with nationally-renowned contemporary poets and authors, Karyna McGlynn and Michael Mlekoday. The reading will be facilitated by poet Megan Levad, and will feature a special performance from Mariposa County’s 2022 Poetry Out Loud Champion, Maegan Matchett. Following the readings, audience members are encouraged to participate in an open Q & A session.
Next, the Arts Council invites the community to participate in Mariposa County Trails Day through poetry-writing and art-making.
Maegan Matchett and Megan Levad coaching session.
With a simple curriculum designed by Megan Levad, this project will send registered participants writing prompts via postcard between the months of April through June with space to create cover art and compose original poetry that explores their experiences, feelings, or ideas related to America’s trails and wild spaces.
Participants are asked to return their completed postcards by May 14. Selected participant poems will be published in a community chapbook, and any interested participants are invited to read their poems out loud during the Mariposa Trails Day event on June 4.
Michael Mlekoday.
Registration for these events, both the virtual poetry reading and Trails Day Poetry, is now open at www.mariposaartscouncil.org/poetry.
The Trails Day event on June 4th will start at the Mariposa County Art Park (5013 CA-140, Mariposa, CA 95338) at 9 a.m. and will take place across recreation locations in Mariposa, including the Mariposa Creek Parkway and the Stockton Creek Preserve. Hosted by the Mariposa County Trails Day Steering Committee, the event “… aims to bring together all trail enthusiasts to discover the mental and physical health benefits of the outdoors in our community,” says Steering Committee member, Ralph Mendershausen.
Trails Day will be activated by community partners, business and nonprofits who will host information and facilitate talks at the Art Park stage on topics like trail recreation, stewardship, and community health and safety practices. Event attendees may enjoy facilitated hikes, biking and river rafting; fly fishing lessons; native plant walks, plein air painting, poetry and more.
More information can be found on the Mariposa County Trails Day Facebook page. June 4th also coincides with the first weekend of the Arts Council’s Music on the Green summer concert series, with The Trespassers playing later that evening at 7 p.m.
The Arts Council is an incorporated not-for-profit organization, created to promote and support all forms of the cultural arts, for all ages, throughout Mariposa County and is supported in part by the County of Mariposa, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the California Arts Council, a state agency.
