Young and old alike will learn something new about their community during the next One Story program this weekend.

Organizers of the annual community reading project will team up with members of the Pokagon Band’s Early Childhood Education Program and Department of Natural Resources to enlighten and entertain visitors during Saturday’s Gwikwé’amen event. The educational event takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pokagon Band Community Center, located at 27043 Potawatomi Trail, Dowagiac.

The event is free and open to the public.

Organizers will transform the Pokagon Community Center into a place of learning and discovery Saturday, with different stations set up around the floor that will focus on crafts, artwork and lessons based around this year’s One Story theme of “A Sense of Place.”

“It is an open house format, where people can stop by whenever and the visit different exhibits and activities,” said Kristie Bussler, educational resource specialist with the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi and lead organizer of the One Story program. “There is no set program. You can come in experience the different activities at your leisure.”

Members of the Pokagon DNR will be at several stations Saturday, sharing their knowledge on a number of topics, including on indigenous foods of Dowagiac and on the local weather and environment. They will also be showing off pelts from animals that reside in the region, which attendees will have a chance to feel.

People may also make some crafts during the morning, including making “longitude and latitude” bracelets, which are made from braided material that will have a small wood plaque that displays the coordinates of the favorite place of the person making it.

Attendees can also make paper from milkweed, which they are encouraged to write their wishes on and bury in their favorite spot. As the milkweed paper contains seeds, there is a chance that saplings will emerge from the spot the parchment was placed.

Finally, people will have a chance to check out the three-dimensional artwork created by local residents and students as part of the One Story art call earlier this year. Bussler expects to have 75 to 100 pieces — comprised of natural materials harvested from the local are — on display that morning.

“The works we have received are absolutely beautiful,” Bussler said. “They could easily be the centerpiece of someone’s table, they are that lovely.”

Among the works of art submitted to the program include a director’s clapboard, made from bark; a depiction of a comic book character made out of natural materials; and a paintbrush made from reeds and branches from an evergreen tree, which will be displayed alongside a painting created using the instrument.

This is the second year that One Story, an annual communitywide reading program, has worked with organizers of the Gwikwé’amen event for the festival, Bussler said.

Normally, Gwikwé’amen — which is a Potawatomi phrase referring to taking care of others, particularly children — is hosted quarterly by members of the Pokagon Band Early Childhood Education Program, offering lessons and programs aimed at children. Saturday’s event, though, will focus on subjects that both children and adults will find fascinating, Bussler said.

“Every time I have been to an event where our DNR is doing nature activities, I have come away learning something new,” Bussler said. “My colleagues always come away saying they got as much from the program as the kids did.”

As with other One Story events, copies of this year’s featured books, Steve Arseneau’s and Ann Thompson’s “Images of America: Dowagiac” and Webb Miller’s “I Found No Peace,” will be available at the program.

For more information about this or other events on the 2017 One Story calendar, people may visit the One Story webpage at onestoryread.com.