Let's Talk Outside: Explorer visits for Harvest Festival weekend

World explorer and author Jon Turk will kickoff the festival weekend with a 1 p.m. presentation at Cabinet Mountain Brewery entitled, “Crocodiles and Ice,” A Journey Into Deep Wild. This will be on Friday, Sept. 16 at our new local brewery at 206 Mineral Ave. There will be free appetizers and Jon will have books for purchase and will autograph copies of “Crocodiles and Ice”, as well as “The Raven’s Gift”, another of Jon’s popular books. Jon’s presentation and book signing event kicks off the Second Annual Kootenai Harvest Festival.

Jon’s presentation will focus on “Crocodiles and Ice,” which highlights Jon’s award-winning polar expedition circumnavigating Ellesmere Island. This was a 1,485-mile trip of 104 days on skis, in kayaks and on foot. This journey was considered by polar experts to be the last great attempted polar expedition so daunting due to it’s remoteness and dangerous ice conditions that no one had attempted it before Turk and Erik Boomer, then 27. Erik had already made a name for himself kayaking into the world’s wildest whitewater. Stop by for the presentation at 1 p.m., enjoy some snacks and grab a microbrew. Turk’s book signing is from 12 p.m.-3 p.m. total, and then again at the Harvest Festival in Riverfront Park from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Jon’s previous book, “The Raven’s Gift,” tells the story of Jon’s encounter with a 100-year-old Shaman woman who heals him of a previous injury and became his friend and spirit guide. Jon will speak addressing — What do travels in remote landscapes teach us about our place as humans in this internet-crazed, oil soaked, consumer-oriented modern world?

In story telling fashion, backed by stunning imagery, Jon Turk will take you on a trans-global adventure; sea kayaking in the Solomon Islands, and the circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island in the Polar Arctic, and a bicycle ride across the Tibetan plateau to the birth place of the Dali Lama. These stories springboard the discussion into the “consciousness Revolution that must underlie humanities greater journey into the 21st century — with any reasonable hope of creating a peaceful, equitable, healthy and sustainable world. The fundamental core of Jon’s talks is that Deep Wild is a space that builds mindfulness; mindfulness is a space where we can grow as individuals and as a society. Jon will tailor his talk to the group and some recent talks also include, The Shaman, The Hunter and the Tundra! Jon will also be signing and selling books at the Kootenai Harvest Festival.

This festival is at Riverfront Park from 2 p.m.-8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16 and will feature locally grown and harvested beef, with side salad and dessert for $7 cooked up by Whattz Up Food’s. Over 25 local vendors will be present including Ron Adamson Cottonwood Sculptures, April Rainey’s Fresh Fruit Pies, Faulkner Sharpening Services, Yaak Valley Log Works, Western Building Center with beer kits and canning goods, McLaury Apiaries and Aunt T’s Coffee Shop with fresh squeezed lemonade, huck lemonade and Italian sodas! Many other vendors, local farmers, veggie booths, educational displays, conservation group tables and kids activities. Local band “Back Adit,” will headline the music venue going on at 5:30 pm, and Rob and Anne Snyder and “Muffy and the Muskrat Ramblers” will be opening acts starting at 2 p.m. This event is sponsored by Montana Wilderness Association; Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness; Silver Cloud Associates; National Geographic Adventurers of the Year; and Cabinet Mountain Brewery.