2026 ECC Wildkin Festival

A Celebration of Crafting, Community, and Handmade Resistance

The Oregon Coast is not a postcard. It is a living, breathing place where old-growth forests, coastal estuaries, salmon runs, and the quiet rhythms of tide and fog hold each other up in ways most people never get to see. That web is under constant pressure. Clearcuts creep closer to the shoreline. Aerial herbicide spraying drifts into watersheds. Plastics wash in with every swell. Development fragments habitat that keystone species depend on. The threats do not arrive one at a time and then leave. They arrive together, and they keep coming.

The Wildkin Festival is our answer to that relentlessness. It is a day to step away from the feed, put your hands into real materials, and remember that this place is worth fighting for because it is worth loving first. We are gathering at Heart Barn on June 27th from noon to 6pm to craft, eat, learn, and be in the same room together, followed by a potluck and fireside chat for anyone who wants to keep the evening going under the stars.

Protecting an ecosystem takes more than petitions and public comments, though we will keep doing both. It takes a community that actually knows each other. It takes neighbors who have shared a meal, stamped leaves onto fabric together, shaped moss into something beautiful, and laughed while creating a critter mask. Those tangible, in-person connections are what carry us when the next timber sale gets announced, the next spray plan hits the news, or the next legislative session opens with bad bills on the docket.

Every pod at this festival is designed to be hands-on and welcoming, whether you come for an hour or stay the whole day. You can sample sourdough and take home a starter, make moss art inside frames with locally foraged materials, dye fabric with plants and rubber mallets, build your own Wildkin face mask inspired by our puppet creations, or sit down with volunteers to learn how ECC and CRA are working to defend this coast.

Come ready to make something. Come ready to meet people. The fights ahead are real, and we are going to be much stronger if we walk into them already knowing who is standing beside us.

What to Bring

• Your Ticket (Printed or Digital)
• Water Bottle (refreshments including water, tea, and coffee will be available)
• Potluck Dish – Optional (we do have fridge space, but no oven)
• Comfortable Layered Clothing
• Comfortable Shoes (attendees are welcome to explore the beautiful creekside property)
• Any nature bits you would like to include in your artwork (we will have some on hand)
  • leaves
  • flowers
  • mosses & lichens
  • dried mushrooms
  • get creative!

Schedule

• 12pm – 1pm: Welcome & Instructions
• 1pm – 2pm: Sourdough Appreciation
• 2:30pm-4:00pm: Moss Art (Group Activity)
• 12pm – 6pm: Nature Printing
• 12pm – 6pm: Wildkin Mask Making
• 12pm – 6pm: ECC Environmental Action
• 6pm – 11pm: Potluck Dinner, Land Exploring, and Fireside Chat **

**Weather Advisory: If it rains, we will move all outdoor activities inside and for the after-event social, we will have hula hoop dancing and blacklight pingpong.

POD 1: Sourdough Appreciation

Host: Steven Trotter

Location: Main Room

Pull up a chair at the long table and get into sourdough the low-pressure way. Steven will have a spread of baked goodies to sample, dehydrated starters to take home, printed care instructions, and a handful of tested recipes to get you going. Stay as long as you want, ask every question you have been sitting on, and leave with a living culture and enough confidence to actually care for and bake with it.

POD 2: Moss Art

Host: Moss Webster

Location: In & Around the Geodesic Dome

Moss Webster is leading a group workshop inside and around the geodesic dome to turn locally foraged mosses, lichens, and plants into small living artworks held inside frames. It is quiet, tactile, and deeply satisfying work. You will walk away with something you made by hand from materials gathered right here on the coast, and a closer eye for the tiny ecosystems growing at your feet.

POD 3: Nature Printing

Host: DIY Station (Available All Day)

Location: Beside Barn on Picnic Tables

Out on the picnic tables beside the barn, we will have a DIY station running all day for hand-dyeing fabric with foraged plants. The trick is delightfully simple: arrange your plants, fold the fabric, and beat it with a rubber mallet until the pigments print straight into the cloth. Fabric markers will be on hand if you want to push your piece further. Drop in whenever the mood strikes.

POD 4: Wildkin Face Mask Making

Host: DIY Station (Available All Day)

Location: Tables & Chairs Area in Main Room

If you have seen our critter masks at productions and protests, this is your chance to make your own. The main room will have a DIY station stocked with base masks, decorating materials, and a few of our wildkin photos on display for inspiration. Build whatever creature is calling you. Wear it home, wear it to the next rally, wear it around the fire that night.

POD 5: ECC Environmental Action

Host: Information Station (Available All Day)

Location: Front Entrance

Stop by the front entrance to see the full picture of what ECC and CRA are working on to protect local ecosystems. We will have a large display, brochures, handouts, maps of threatened areas, and volunteers ready to talk through any of it with you. Whether you are brand new to this work or already deep in it, come find out where your time, skills, and voice can plug in.