Join us for an evening of concise and diverse audio-visual presentations and storytelling following the popular “PechaKucha” format, which is sweeping the globe. Each presenter has 6 minutes, 40 seconds (20 images, 20 seconds per image) to tell his or her story on the theme “Thinking Wilderness” in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. The evening promises to entertain, educate and open your eyes with a line-up of homespun, funny, artful, poignant and provocative interpretations of the theme by presenters from Questa, La Lama, and Taos County communities. Topics include a passion for picking piñones, “rewilding” our youth, perspectives on the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, the ongoing campaign to protect the Columbine Hondo Wilderness Study Area, plein aire painting, the story of felling the tree for the choir loft beam in the restoration of St. Anthony’s Church in Questa and more! (That’s how unexpected “what wilderness means to us” can be in Questa!) OCHO is just east of the stoplight in Questa, across from the Questa Visitor Center.

1. Rivala Garcia: Her story about starting the Rivala Tree Fund at 9 yrs old
2. Daniel Hutchison: Re-wilding Our youth / getting kids out into the wilderness
3. Bud Wilson: Starting Sangre de Cristo Youth Ranch and conservation easements on the ranch
4. Mark Sideris: Felling the Questa Church Choir Beam
5. Claire Cote: LEAP/Thinking Wilderness Project
6. Kate Cisneros: A Passion for picking Piñones
7. Victor Mascareñas: The tradition of taking Cows up into the Sangre de Cristo mountains, now Latir Wilderness
8. John Olivas: Personal Experiences with Rio Grande del Norte designation
9. John Bailey: Personal reflections and update on RGDN National Monument
10. Diane DeFremery: Plein Aire painting
in nature
11. Chris Coté: Wildland Firefighter to Taos County Wildland Fire Coordinator

$5 suggested donation for tickets at the door.
(Doors open at 6:30. Arrive early as space is limited!)

More info about this and other “Thinking Wilderness” Events at thinkingwilderness.org. Info about OCHO: www.ochozone.org and Info about PechaKucha: pechakucha.org