​​Mother Earth News Fair Coming to Erie

Contributed

Learn the art of resilience at the two-day Mother Earth News Fair coming to the Bayfront Convention Center. There will be classes in a number of subjects including gardening, animal husbandry, and foraging.

BEGINNING SATURDAY, JUL. 15

For those interested in building a more sustainable lifestyle, the Mother Earth News Fair is coming to the Bayfront Convention Center in July. The two-day event will feature interactive workshops, presentations, and vendors with topics ranging from raising animals and seed-saving, alternative energy, and herbal medicine.

Mother Earth News has provided information on do-it-yourself projects, gardening, and homesteading for over 50 years. "When it comes down to it, what we teach is resilience," states  Josh Wilder, director of events and video at Mother Earth News. Wilder mentions increasing costs of necessities due to inflation and supply chain issues as reasons for people to learn these skills: "A lot of times we're sold things that aren't as necessary," Wilder adds, "You know, it's really about living simpler."

Throughout the weekend there will be over 75 workshops and eight event stages where experts will share their knowledge. For an additional registration fee, people can participate in the fair's hands-on learning workshops, like the Foraging Walk at Presque Isle State Park. On Saturday morning, participants will learn the basics of foraging at Presque Isle with Amyrose Foll and William Padilla-Brown, two specialists in the field.

"It'll be a group of 10 or 20 people with a mushroom expert and a foraging expert, going through the state park and identifying the types of food or mushrooms that you could possibly consume or what to stay away from," Wilder explains. "[It will include] a lot of the ethos and the  community around foraging and what's acceptable and what's not," Wilder adds.

Though Mother Earth News has online resources like videos and podcasts, Wilder explains that the in-person fair is a unique experience with a chance to build community with like-minded people, "You can learn a lot from our speakers, but you're [also] gonna learn a lot from the people you're sitting next to." 

Saturday July 15 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday July 16 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. // Bayfront Convention Center, 1 Sassafras Pier // $32-$212 // For tickets and info: motherearthnews.com