Friends of Jackeys Marsh

Friends of Jackeys Marsh Inc is the organising group for the Jackeys Marsh Forest Festival, 5 7February 2010.
 

This festival has a 25 year history of providing participants with a wide variety of interesting experiences from wild cave tours to world heritage walks, workshops on sustainability and natural healing, and many kinds of musical genres in three differently themed concerts. In order to assist in the reduction of green house gasses resulting from attendance at the festival participants will be encourage to ride their bicycles or catch the bio-diesel powered bus. Jackeys Marsh is part of the Great Western Tiers, a complex series of ecosystems from karst landscapes to old-growth forests which stretch from Mole Creek to Campbelltown in northern Tasmania. The area requires increased levels of protection as a buffer to climate change. Successive forest festivals have introduced thousands of people to the tall trees, prolific bird-life and heritage values of this very special area of Tasmania.

  For the first time festival organisers will also realise a long held dream to run the festival solely on alternative sources of power including wind, water and solar. A team of technical experts will come together to put a comprehensive system together. As well, local Jackeys Marsh residents will be on hand to give guided tours of their varied alternative energy systems. For over 30 years local residents have lived their lives on solar, wind and water power as mains power is not available in the valley. They are keen to transmit their experience to others and discuss the feasibility of living in an energy constrained world, not dependent on traditional sources of energy. Hence our involvement with Sustainable House Day when several of these houses will participate. Another exciting new initiative is the sustainability expo which will be held at the 2010 forest festival. Workshops and exhibitions on sustainable cleaning products, paints, building materials, biodynamic food, the use of natural dyes and much more will take place over the three days of the festival.

The 2010 festival will also feature an outdoor environmental art exhibition as a collaboration between festival organisers, Friends of Jackeys Marsh and Arts Alive, Lanceston. The Delroane and Launceston districts have a proliferation of artists with an attachement to the local environment who have offered to participate. This exciting event will be curated by Rob Duffield.

Children are well catered for with the Supersilly-us circus providing hours of entertainment. Special walks are tailored for children, as well as workshops such as bark rubbings, basket weaving, music and aikido. Three concerts will take place, featuring a range of local and interstate bands as well as a film festival.