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2014 Yampa Valley Crane Festival: Sunday

Sunday, September 14, 2014 - 12:00am
  • Community-wide

The third annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival takes place September 12-15, 2014 in Steamboat Springs and Hayden. It includes four days of free events and the Bud Werner Memorial Library is festival headquarters.

The detailed 2014 Yampa Valley Crane Festival schedule is available here. Below is a quick guide to festival events for Sunday. Note that all events are free but a few events require advance registration due to limited space.

Sunday at the Yampa Valley Crane Festival:
6:15 a.m.
Sunrise crane viewing. Shuttle departs at 5:45 a.m. Registration required for shuttle. Suggested donation $5/person.

8 – 9 a.m.
Dutch treat coffee and scones at Wild Goose Coffee at the Granary in Hayden.

10 – 11 a.m.
Sketch-a-crane workshop with painter Joan Hoffmann in in Library Hall. All supplies provided. All ages welcome.

11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum's  “Birds in Art 2013” exhibit at the Steamboat Art Museum, 801 Lincoln Ave.

11:15 a.m. – Noon
Screening of the documentary film Raising Kid Colt in Library Hall. This film by Nina Faust follows the life of a sandhill crane family at the Kachemak Crane Watch in Homer, Alaska..

12:45 – 3:45 p.m.
Conclusion of crane yard art silent auction on the Library Lawn.

1 – 1:45 p.m.
“Everything you ever wanted to know about Rocky Mountain Greater Sandhill Cranes,” presented by Van Graham, the retired Colorado Parks & Wildlife wildlife biologist who developed Colorado's Greater Sandhill Crane recovery plan, in Library Hall.

2 – 3:30 p.m.
“Learning about birds in the digital age: Lessons from Northwest Colorado,” presented by Birding magazine editor and birder extraordinaire Ted Floyd in Library Hall. A book sale and signing for his new book, the American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Colorado, follows the talk.

3:45 – 4:45 p.m.
Screening of Cranes of the Rockies, a film by Michael Bennett about the Rocky Mountain Population of Greater Sandhill Cranes, in Library Hall.

About the Yampa Valley Crane Festival
The Greater Sandhill Crane is an iconic species of the Yampa Valley. Returning in the spring, cranes nest and raise their young in wetland areas throughout the valley. In late summer and early fall, hundreds of cranes from the Rocky Mountain flock join the local birds to rest and feed before continuing their journey south. The festival includes daily crane viewings, expert speakers, films, art exhibits, workshops, family activities and more. All community activities and events are free unless otherwise indicated in the program, and the Bud Werner Memorial Library will be home base for many of these talks, films and events.

Learn more about the festival at www.coloradocranes.org.