SEQUIM — Efforts to conserve the Dungeness watershed will take center stage Friday at the free Dungeness River Festival.

Organizers will open the event to the public from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Dungeness River Nature Center in Railroad Bridge Park, 1943 W. Hendrickson Road.

As is tradition, about 500 local children, mostly third- through fifth-graders from Helen Haller Elementary, are anticipated to visit along with Five Acre School’s Sound Waves marimba band, which will play at noon.

Montana Napier, the Nature Center’s education manager, said there will be 19 booths with hands-on displays and activities and an overall theme to “connect people with their watershed.”

Some of the groups planning to attend include: The Peninsula Chapter of the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington, with horses, a mule, a donkey and a miniature horse; the U.S. Forest Service; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge; National Park Service; Clallam County Marine Resources Committee; North Olympic Salmon Coalition; Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and more.

Napier said the organizations’ representatives will be available to answer questions about the Dungeness watershed and the Olympic Peninsula’s natural resources.

“(The event) wouldn’t be possible without all the agencies working hard to protect the watershed,” Napier said.

“We’re thankful to have them involved.”

It’s the second year for the festival after a hiatus from 2019-2022 due to COVID-19 protocols, railroad bridge construction, parking lot installation and river restoration efforts.

For more information about the River Festival and Dungeness River Nature Center, visit dungenessrivercenter.org or call 360-681-4076.