Fort Ticonderoga family workshops begin

TICONDEROGA -- Fort Ticonderoga is hosting a series of three family workshops designed for parents and their children that starts today. "Color My Garden," at Thompson-Pell Research Center from 10 a.m. to noon, teaches the use of color, texture and spacing to design a vegetable or flower garden. There is a $5 fee per child; parents are free. On Saturday, April 19, children and their parents can take part in a program titled "Life in the Continental Army" and learn about what life was like in the Continental Army. Also at the Research Center from 10 a.m. to noon, it costs $5 fee per child, and parents, again, are free. Mohawk storyteller Darren Bonaparte will share Iroquois legends on Saturday, May 3, from 10 a.m. to noon at Fort Ti's new Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center. Support from the South Lake Champlain Fund enables all to attend this program free of charge; this event is also open to the general public.

Town of Plattsburgh hosts spring activities

PLATTSBURGH -- The Town of Plattsburgh Recreation Department is sponsoring an opportunity for kids to get some exercise and have fun over the spring break next week. Any child age 9 to 13 can come to the Morrisonville Elementary School gym between 1 to 3 p.m. to play floor hockey and indoor soccer. This is a drop-in program, and it's free. Shin guards are required, but all other equipment will be provided. Call the Recreation Department at 562-6860 for further information.

Rock and Fossil Fair set for April 19

POTSDAM -- SUNY Potsdam's Department of Geology will sponsor the third annual Rock and Fossil Fair and Roadshow on Saturday, April 19, from 9 a.m. until noon in SUNY Potsdam's Timerman Hall.

The event will give participants the opportunity to bring in rocks, minerals and fossils for identification by SUNY Potsdam geologists and paleontologists. It will also feature a fossil dig that will allow participants to dig through sand to find fossils to keep, and a mineral mine that will feature a hunt for minerals and rocks. Dr. Pyrite's Mineral Lab will allow visitors to look at their rock or mineral specimens under the microscope.

An exhibit will feature fluorescent rocks from St. Lawrence County, rocks and minerals from New York and around the world and real dinosaur fossils unearthed by paleontologists. Another exhibit will allow participants to examine micrometeorites that fall to earth everyday.

The free event, open to the public, will include free face painting and dinosaur tattoos, pieces of North Country rocks, dinosaur crafts and homemade food.

For more information, visit www.potsdam.edu/rockfair.