FIND
BIOS URN
Let’s go fly a kite...
SATURDAY APRIL 26 ...up to the highest height TREASURE VALLEY KITE FESTIVAL You may want to keep your plans up in the air on Saturday, April 26. That’s when Technicolor quadrilaterals will dot the skies over Meridian’s Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park for the inaugural Treasure Valley Kite Festival. Once upon a time, there used to be an annual kite-flying extravaganza in Boise. But it was gone with the wind by the late 1990s. “It’s been a while,” said Becky Breshears, owner of Plan Ahead Events Boise, one of the new festival’s sponsors. “But then Gary Lillard, who used to produce the old Boise kite festival, told me it was one of the most rewarding events he had ever been a part of: 2,000-3,000 kites in the air and families on blankets as the kids raced across the grass.” That description sealed the deal and Breshears got going to launch the Treasure Valley Kite Festival during April, which is National Kite Month. The event begins at 9 a.m. and continues until noon, with prizes being awarded to longest tail, highest flight and other high-falutin’ fun. No worries if you don’t have your own: Free kites will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. “We’ll have some prizes and ribbons for all the kids,” said Breshears. “And we’ll be out there rain or shine, wind or none. But isn’t there always some wind here in April?” In addition to Plan Ahead Events Boise, the free event is cosponsored by Rocky Mountain Roll, American Family Insurance and Inspirational Family Radio. 9 a.m.-noon, FREE. Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park, 1900 N. Records Ave., Meridian, facebook.com/TVKitefestival.
drink tickets can be used for either beer or nonalcoholic beverages. Eight establishments are slated to participate, including Piper Pub & Grill, Solid, The Front Door, Taphouse and Ha’ Penny Pub, among others. Registrants will receive one drink ticket good at each location, where they’ll receive a 6 oz. taster of beer or other nonalcoholic concoction. Each pub will also have a menu of select food items, and each order will result in an additional donation to the CFF. If you miss out on preregistration, you can still
S U B M I T BOI S EW EEKLY.COM
participate in the fundraising. Visit the website to see which pubs are participating, then hit your favorite spot and order from the selected menu. It’s a golden opportunity to relish a leisurely Saturday afternoon, while simultaneously funding vital research into the treatment of a deadly disease. Noon, $40 adv., $50 day of, check-in:11 a.m.-1 p.m. Pioneer Tent and Awning Company building, inside next to Jenny’s Lunch Line, 106 N. Sixth St., 208-340-8331, boisescrawl.org.
Thrill of the chaise.
SATURDAY APRIL 26 meet and seat CHAIR AFFAIR 2014: ADAPT Walk into a giant furniture store and the choices will probably not be cutting edge. Clearly, something ottoman be done about it. For those interested in craftsmanship and creativity, lack of inspiring design doesn’t settee well. Luckily, it’s time for the Interior Designers of Idaho Chair Affair—a full-day and evening event dedicated to all things functionally aesthetic. But make no mistake, this is not chair-ity we’re talking about. Rather, it’s an opportunity for both student and professional craftsmen from throughout the Northwest to showcase their visions crafted from materials entirely of their choosing. Past winners have included tennis balls, elk antlers and one antique filing system repurposed as a foyer table. Perhaps this year will see a piece carved from the rarest wood of all: the Ponder-sofa. Whatever the material, each piece will likely be chair-ished forever based on their enduring designs. And when you couch it in those terms, suddenly furniture becomes interesting again. If you couldn’t chair less about design but totally dig all things eco-friendly, take heart—the event includes a Best Recycled Materials category. To qualify, entries must contain a minimum of 50 percent recycled materials that have been reconditioned, remanufactured or recycled from materials headed straight to the dump. In terms of sustainability, this group is bed to the bone. Boise Centre on the Grove will host the trade show and lecture series portion, while the evening gala will occur at the WaterCooler and includes the awards ceremony, where seven lucky winners will receive prizes ranging from $500-$1000. The tables will turn toward attendees as they vote for their personal picks, on display during the gala event. The entry that receives the lion’s chair of votes will win the coveted People’s Choice Award. (Pictured: “Configured Geometry” by Kevin Noble. Awarded Best Craftsmanship, 2013) 7:30 p.m., $15 general, $10 students. The WaterCooler, 1401 W. Idaho St., interiordesignersofidaho.org.
When I die, I don’t want to be buried in the ground or sprinkled over a mountaintop. I want something way cooler: I want to be a tree. Fortunately for me, that’s a thing. A Barcelona, Spain-based company spent 15 years making this a reality. The Bios Urn, from Estudimoline is a “new way to conceive life, after life.” The 100-percent biodegradable urn arrives with urnabios.com a tree seed inside. You add the ashes of your late loved one, topped by some soil from the area where the urn will be going, and then plant the whole cup in the ground. According to urnabios.com, the seed germinates in the top of the capsule, separated from the ashes. By the time the urn begins to biodegrade, the roots have connected with the ashes, which become part of the subsoil and help nourish a pine, gingko, maple, oak, ash or beech tree. In light of Earth Day, which was April 22, I can’t think of a better way to give back to the earth than turning carbon dioxide into oxygen. Imagine shaded parks in place of cemeteries and paying respects to those you’ve lost by sitting in the shade of a tree they helped create instead of staring down at a cold granite headstone. Imagine birds nesting in your mom’s protective branches. Imagine the treehouse you could build atop your dad’s newfound shoulders. Bios Urns are available for pets as well, and cost around $100. If turning into a tree isn’t for you, check out the Infinity Burial Project: an organic cotton suit lined with crocheted netting full of mushroom spores. –Jessica Murri
an event by email to calendar@boiseweekly.com. Listings are due by noon the Thursday before publication.
BOISEweekly | APRIL 23–29, 2014 | 17