Garin Apple Festival in Hayward

Garin Apple Festival

A unique feature of Garin Regional Park in Hayward is its antique apple orchard, maintained by volunteers, which contains varieties of apples no longer available on supermarket shelves.

Garin celebrates the orchard and Hayward’s local farming heritage with an annual Apple Festival, this year from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10.

Activities will include old-fashioned games, crafts, blacksmithing demonstrations, ice cream making, and of course apple tasting. Parental participation is required. It’s all centered at Garin’s Red Barn Visitor Center. COVID-19 protocols apply, and visitors must wear masks when indoors.

The festival is free and no registration is needed. Garin Regional Park is located at the end of Garin Avenue off Mission Boulevard in Hayward. There’s a parking fee of $5 per vehicle. For information, call 510-544-3220.

Squiggles and Squawks

The animals at Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont communicate with each other and with us in a variety of ways. You can learn more about their language during “Squiggles and Squawks,” a naturalist-led program at the farm from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 10. Or you can turn the rainbow colored kernels of freshly harvested flint corn into a corn mosaic during a craft program from 1 to 2 p.m. the same day.

Both programs are drop-in; no registration is required. Ardenwood admission fees apply; parking is free. The park is located at 34600 Ardenwood Boulevard, just north of Highway 84. For more information, call 510-544-2797.

Critter Camouflage

Now you see them, now you don’t. Critter camouflage is the theme of a program from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10 in the Doug Siden Visitor Center at Crab Cove in Alameda. Learn how animals try to fool you.

The program repeats at the same time on Sunday, Sept. 11. The center is located at the end of McKay Avenue off Alameda’s Central Avenue. For information, call 510-544-3187.

Ice Cream Making

Ice cream making is the plan during a program from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10 in the Environmental Education Center at Tilden Nature Area near Berkeley with naturalist Melissa Fowlks. For results you need ice, salt, cream, sugar and some muscle power to turn the ice cream machine’s crank. This is a drop-in program, no reservations are necessary.

The center is at the north end of Tilden’s Central Park Drive, accessible via Canon Drive from Grizzly Peak Boulevard in Berkeley. For information, call 510-544-2233.

Nocturnal Animals

Nocturnal animals will be the theme of a campfire program from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10 at Big Break Regional Shoreline in Oakley, with naturalist Misti Marsh.

Put together a picnic dinner and bring the family for an evening in the park. The program will include various nature-themed activities, and S’mores, that gooey campfire treat.

Big Break also offers nature-based activities, including crafts, for all ages from noon to 2 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday. Programs follow COVID protocols and include social distancing. Everyone over age two must wear a face covering when indoors.

Big Break is at 69 Big Break Road off Oakley’s Main Street. For information, call 510-544-3050.

Naturalist-Led Sunday Stroll

Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland is the venue for a naturalist-led Sunday Stroll from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Sept. 11. Meet at the Canyon Meadow staging area for a four-mile walk with one steep uphill and one steep downhill.

The walk is free of charge; the park has a parking fee of $5 per vehicle when the kiosk is attended. The park entrance is on Redwood Road about two miles beyond the intersection with Skyline Boulevard in Oakland. Canyon Meadow is at the end of the entrance road. For information, call Crab Cove at 510-544-3187.

There’s lots more to see and do in the regional parks. Visit www.ebparks.org/calendar for full listings.