The Keoka Lake Association of Waterford is hosting its first Watershed Festival on July 11, a celebration of area lakes, ponds, rivers and streams with a focus on education and awareness of the importance of watersheds throughout Maine.

The event will be held at Townhouse Beach at 641 Waterford Road from 1-4 p.m.

From 1-4 p.m. there will be local music and jam sessions. Anyone who loves music is invited to entertain and collaborate with the crowd. It is being sponsored by the Keoka Lake Association.

There will also be presentations on Maine watersheds and lake stewardship.

“We’ve launched this event to bring together a broad mix of educational and community partners,” co-organizer James Flynn said in an email statement. “Organizations from across the region are invited to participate with informational presentations, displays and educational materials related to watershed stewardship, lake and river conservation, water quality, wildlife, outdoor recreation, and environmental learning.”

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Watershed Management division will demonstrate a watershed model, a simulation showing how water, sediment and pollutants travel through specific tracts of land, entering rivers and lakes that provide public drinking water.

Maine Audubon Conservation Director Sally Stockwell will talk about loons and their habitat and share details of the organization’s new Fish and Forests program.

Flynn and co-founder Tom Hammett’s goal is to spread the message that watersheds are more than bodies of water. “If it rains on you, you are in a watershed,” Flynn quipped. “Keoka Lake is at the very top of the Sebago Watershed, but we are our own watershed as well, as is each lake that feeds into the larger system.”

Neighboring watersheds to Kyoka Lake include McWain and Bear ponds, and the Crooked River, which is the major waterway feeding Sebago Lake and providing the greater Portland area with its drinking water.

“Watershed Festival ’26 is meant to be welcoming, informative, and community-focused,” Hammett said. “Our goal is to help people see how the places they live, work and play on land are connected to the lakes and rivers they care about, and to share simple actions that make a difference across the whole watershed.”

The educational aspects and presenters of Watershed Festival are set to go, but Flynn said the entertainment and networking side is decidedly casual. “We’re playing it as a jam session with the locals,” he said. “Anyone who wants to play or sing or dance should come prepared to join in.”

The festival is free for the public. Keoka Lake Association is selling T-shirts, posters, bottled water and ice cream bars, with proceeds to preserve Keoka Lake and the surrounding lakes and watersheds of western Maine.

Rain date is July 12.

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