Tag Archives: St. Croix River

Carpenter Nature Center’s Animals of the St. Croix

Join Carpenter Nature Center (CNC) staff to learn about some of the amazing animals that call the St. Croix River Valley their home and meet them up close!

CNC is an environmental education and conservation organization with the mission of fostering appreciation and inspiring stewardship of the natural world. With campuses on both the Minnesota and Wisconsin sides of the St. Croix River, CNC is able to preserve wildlife habitat while also providing quality educational opportunities.

Hudson & North Hudson River Cleanup

The annual River Cleanup is a core activity of Hudson’s St. Croix RiverFest. Community volunteers get out on the riverbank collecting trash and working to help clean up the river (trash bags will be provided). While the goal of RiverFest is to get people out to enjoy the river, the River Cleanup is the “purpose” for the RiverFest celebration.

Families and individuals are encouraged to join the Cleanup. Please view the River Cleanup Guidelines for instructions and details.

Meet at the Bandshell for the Lakefront Park area cleanup. Please view a map of Cleanup locations.

Business or organizations please contact Buck Malick at 715-386-7010 to pre-register and receive your cleanup locations.

Drop off the trash collected during the River Cleanup from 11am to 12pm at Picnic Point (south end of Lakefront Park).

Following the Cleanup (around 11:30), RiverFest will host a picnic lunch for the Cleanup volunteers at Picnic Point (south end of Lakefront Park).

Thank you to our lunch sponsors: Jerry’s Foods, Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, Erbert & Gerberts, Kwik Trip, and Rise Baking Company/Best Maid.

Pop Up-Players Street Water Show

This is a new RiverFest program directed by Hudson’s own, Liz Malanaphy. This fun program tells the story of water as it travels through our community through interactive storytelling and will include volunteers from the audience.

In the event of rain, the program will be moved to Music Room at The Phipps Center for the Arts, at 109 Locust Street.
If the weather is stormy, please check here before the show for any location updates.

Kids Street Water Class & Performance

The Kids Street Water Class runs the week of  July 20-24 from 9am-12pm with a performance on Friday, July 24th at 7pm.

The Pop-Up Players will explore clean water and the environment with a goal of developing a theatrical performance at RiverFest. Students will study acting, singing, prop making and more. The class will conclude Friday, July 24th at 7pm with and eco-friendly performance for at the Hudson Bandshell.

For kids age 8-12. This is a free class, but you must pre-register by contacting Liz Malanaphy at lizmalanaphy@gmail.com or 715-245-0432.

Invasive Species Control on the St. Croix River – Demonstration & Information

Come and see the Minnesota DNR’s Electrofishing Boat demonstration at 2:30 and 3:30pm (water conditions permitting) at the Lakefront Park Beach.

The Minnesota DNR will have a display booth at Picnic Point. Meet the Aquatics and Fisheries Biologists and see carp mounts and a carp tracking acoustic tag display.

The Minnesota DNR and the Wisconsin DNR are teaming up to stop the spread of Invasive Fish Species such as Silver and Bighead Carp in the upper Mississippi River basin, including the St. Croix River.

Minnesota DNR’s invasive carp program takes an integrated approach to invasive carp prevention and management, focusing on actions that the DNR and partners can take to slow the spread of invasive carp, minimize their impact, and reduce the chance of invasive carp reproducing in Minnesota waters. Those actions include monitoring invasive carp in ways that enable us to respond, prevention and deterrence, response preparation, management and control, and communication, outreach, and coordination. Among other activities, our program tags and tracks invasive carp to learn about their movement patterns, monitors for evidence of reproduction, contracts commercial fishers to capture invasive carp, and works with partners to develop better ways to target invasive carp in Minnesota waters. More info on our invasive carp program is available online at: mndnr.gov/invasivecarp.

Watch a video of the 2024 Hudson St. Croix RiverFest Invasive Species Control on the St. Croix. Thank you to River Channel for sharing this video.

St. Croix Valley Community Band Concert

The FREE St. Croix Valley Community Band Concert is a popular RiverFest event. Celebrating community and the scenic St. Croix River with something for people of all ages. Colleen Raye will be joining the concert as a featured guest artist. You won’t want to miss this fun-filled family evening! Families are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket or lawn chairs and settle in to enjoy the show.

The RiverFest theme song will be played for a sing-along. View the lyrics to the RiverFest, It’s the Best! song.

See the RiverFest mascot Scrappy on display! Created by sculptor Mary Johnson, the splashing bass figure is metal armature. Each year students from the Phipps Center for the Arts “Just Add Water” art and science class help complete the sculpture by processing and re-purposing the litter collected in Hudson during the river cleanup to create a new “skin” for Scrappy.

In the event of rain, the concert will be moved to The Phipps Center for the Arts, Black Box Theater at 109 Locust Street.
If the weather is stormy, please check here before the concert for any location updates.