Tilden Nature Area Celebration Features Old-Fashioned Fun September 23

The East Bay Regional Park District is hosting a barn dedication and family-friendly fair on Sunday, September 23 from 11am to 4pm at Tilden Regional Park's Little Farm. East Bay Regional Park District Board Member Nancy Skinner will officiate over a short dedication ceremony at 12:30 pm. The event is significant in that it marks the first official barn dedication in the District's nearly 75-year history and the first major addition to Tilden's Little Farm since 1955 with the construction of the present little red barn.

The new Cow Barn was designed for bovine comfort and protection from the elements, especially for the farm's Milking Shorthorn cows and calves. Milking Shorthorns are one of the oldest recognized breeds of cattle in the world, and are now quite rare. Three calves were born at the farm this summer. The new barn also features a wheelchair accessible ramp to make close encounters easier for the cows' human visitors. The little red barn will still house the farms pigs, sheep, goats, and fowl.

The fair includes a bevy of festivities for the whole family including cider pressing, arts and crafts, live music, a marionette puppet show and farm activities. Join in pie-eating contests, sack races, and horse-drawn wagon rides.

The Little Farm is part of the 740-acre preserve at the north end of Tilden Regional Park, next to Tilden's renowned Environmental Education Center (EEC), headquarters for Tilden Nature Area interpretive programs. Thousands of urban children have learned their first ecology lessons at the EEC, or met their first farm animal at the Little Farm.

Admission and parking are free, wagon rides cost $2. Dogs are not permitted at the Nature Center or Little Farm. The Little Farm is located at the north end of Central Park Drive. AC Transit bus #67 serves the event from downtown Berkeley BART. Please carpool as parking is limited. Information: 1-888-EBPARKS or www.ebparks.org.

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