2026 Seminar & Celebration on 4/11/26

This is our fourth annual event, and the first one at our new warehouse: 1626B West Pearl Street in Stevens Point. We are now on the west side of our cherished river! Navigation sometimes gets lost trying to get to us, so here are directions: from downtown Stevens Point, take 66 west over the bridge. Take the first left onto West River Drive, and the second right onto West Quarry Street. Follow all the way back towards the woods and a basketball hoop, and you’ve found us! We share a building with Pearl Street Gym, so if you’ve been there before then you know where to go.

At this event you will find educational sessions, screen printing, games, art, microscopes, and more. Come meet new friends and learn some stuff!

Seminar schedule : 9:30AM-1:15PM

9-9:30AM : Coffee & tea social
9:30-10:15AM : Composting as Resistance : Kelly J Adlington, Co-owner of Bucket Ruckus
10:30-11:15AM : This Presentation is Garbage : Abby Sauer, Site Coordinator at Portage County Solid Waste Department
11:30AM-12:15PM : Fix a Flat Tips & Bicycle Cleanliness : Todd Ewer, Cycling Mechanic at PABS
12:30-1:15PM : Earth Provides! : Robin Greenfield, activist forager

Celebration schedule and activities : 9AM-3PM

During and after the seminar you can participate in games and activities centered on our resources and disposal habits. All stations and activities will be facilitated by volunteers. Here is some of what you can expect:

9AM - 3PM : Recycling right

Do you find recycling confusing? Because it can be! However it is still a meaningful act, as long as you know what your local recycling rules are. We will have a table staffed with a local recycling expert to answer all your questions.

9AM - 3PM : Compost games and activities

How fast can you find all the pieces of garbage in the finished compost? Help us keep a clean stream of compost and get that stuff outta there! Do you know which bin a plastic berry container goes into?…recycle, or landfill? Play some simple games that help to reinforce important aspects of one of the most often overlooked parts of our lives: throwing things “away.”

9AM - 3PM : Explore teeny tiny life with microscopes!

Did you know that microorganisms are critical to life? They exist in our soils, they help treat our wastewater, they live in our food…they are all around us! While our microscopes may not be powerful enough to see all the different kinds of soil and water microorganisms that exist, they can still illuminate a huge and fascinating part of biology. Come explore microscopic life that drives our ecosystems!

9AM - 3PM : Garbage Art with Bri Kiefer of Dancy Art Camp

Sustainable art-making is where it's at! This activity invites us to consider materials that often end up in landfills, as we turn our everyday TRASH into ART. Join Bri, of Dancy Art Camp, for fun and creativity, infused with environmental awareness! Some items supplied, but please bring your own trash materials. We will give new life to things like dried up markers, shoelaces, CDs, scrap fabric, twist ties and rubber bands, washed plastic silverware, egg cartons, newspapers and magazines, paper towel tubes, and more…what else can you think of?!

9AM - 3PM : SOIL!

Do you know what soil is? How to identify it? All the amazing ways it influences our lives, infrastructure, health? Stop by this table to hear from Professor Bryant Scharenbroch from UW-Stevens Point about why soil is one of our most amazing natural resources…and maybe learn how to identify the stuff in your back yard!

12 - 3PM: Screen printing

Bring your own t shirt, or $5 to use one that we thrifted for you.* Keep in mind that we will print with black ink only. You can also print on tea towels, tote bags, etc. Items for printing should be mostly or entirely made of cotton for the best quality print. This station will be supervised and if you’re not comfortable printing your own t shirt, someone can do it for you!

We will be printing the classic Bucket Ruckus logo, as well as a new design for 2026 made by local artist Curvo Leno…stay tuned!

*While we try to have a variety of styles, sizes, and colors, we are limited to what has been available at local thrift stores so we hope that you find something that works for you!