Sonoma County residents and visitors will ring in the seasonal return of steelhead trout next month at the Lake Sonoma Steelhead Festival.

A promotional flyer for the 17th Annual Lake Sonoma Steelhead Festival. (Friends of Lake Sonoma)

The free, family-friendly event celebrates the fish but also shines a light on local watersheds and habitat.

The Milt Brandt Visitor Center and Congressman Don Clausen Fish Hatchery will host thousands of people who come to the annual event, which focuses on environmental stewardship and conservation. Spawning demonstrations will be held at the hatchery and there will also be guided tours.

For kids, there are arts and crafts projects, archery and a large-scale bubble show.

Live music will be featured throughout the day with performances by Krome Addikt, Play Marimba! and School of Rock Santa Rosa.

There’s also food ranging from barbecue, to funnel cakes, to tacos. Draft beer from Bear Republic will be available along with wine from Quivira Vineyards.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 7 at Warm Springs Dam near Geyserville. Proceeds will benefit Friends of Lake Sonoma.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.