4th Annual Central Coast Beaver Festival
Join us for a special celebration of beavers, steelhead, and community!
Saturday, April 11, 2026
10 AM – 3 PM, free admission
Mission Plaza, 989 Chorro St, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Come to the Beaver Festival in style:
🚲 FREE BIKE VALET – enter from Chorro Street
🚗 FREE PARKING – in the new parking garage on Monterey and Nipomo
🚎 TAKE THE BUS – it’s a 5 minute walk from the Downtown Transit Center in SLO
The Beaver Festival will feature live music, guest speakers, informational booths, food vendors, kids’ crafts & games, and more!
Why do we celebrate beavers?
Because beavers are habitat creators, fire protectors, and water bringers!
Beavers build dams in our creeks and rivers, turning them into lush wetlands. This SLOWS the water down, allowing it to SPREAD out and SINK into our groundwater (slow it, spread it, sink it)! Not only does this help us in droughts, but their wetlands also create refuge from wildfires. Come join us on April 11th to learn about all this and more at our 4th annual Central Coast Beaver Festival.
Our Keynote Speaker: Pamela Adams
Pamela Adams is a Seattle-based freelance beaver detective who is pioneering community based beaver ecology—especially focused on urban beaver ecology. Her vision is to foster more “freelance beaver detectives” in every urban waterway in the west and beyond. When one is dedicated to follow beavers one is bringing the news of good trouble.
Check out Pamela’s website, Beaver Insights, to learn more about her work and to view some amazing footage of Seattle’s urban beavers.
Opening by Shaunie Briggs
Shaunie Briggs is a California Native and proud Salinan woman devoted to land, food, and cultural revitalization. As a living systems artist, she works at the intersection of ancestral knowledge, ecological stewardship, and community healing. Through traditional foodways, foraging, and Indigenous contemplation of the natural world, she invites others to reconnect with the natural world and honors the vital role of keystone species like beavers in restoring balance.
Her journey is both personal and collective—a reclamation of culture and a call to live in right relationship with the Earth. For Shaunie, life is art, living is a science, and harmony with nature is both a joy and a responsibility.
Food by Sichuan Kitchen
Sichuan Kitchen is back this year as a food vendor at the Beaver Festival! Sichuan Kitchen serves local food with spices from the Sichuan region of China. Come enjoy the flavors of Sichuan cuisine at the Beaver Festival.
Check out photos and stories from previous years of the Festival:
Our Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors!!!! The festival would not be possible without each and every one of them.
Find out about Becoming a Sponsor!
2026 Beaver Festival Sponsors:
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
City of San Luis Obispo
New Times
Rancho Estrellita in Shandon
Spaceman Media
Frankie Lopez-Johnson
Althouse and Meade
KCBX
Atascadero Mutual Water Company
Defenders of Wildlife
Paul Rose
California Central Coast Joint Venture
Karlandia Foundation
Elationscapes
Jan Smith
