Mid-July travelers to Cape Cod National Seashore should consider attending the Highlands Fest: Reflections of the Coast, a festival that melds art, education, science, and volunteerism.

Scheduled for July 10th (with July 11 reserved as the rain date), the festival gets under way at 1 p.m. in Truro and runs on into the night.

Seashore Superintendent George Price calls the festival, which is free to all-comers, "a wonderful fusion of the arts, sciences, education and volunteer service.”

You can get involved in the festival by volunteering with Barnstable County’s AmeriCorps Cape Cod to paint murals on two different Highlands Center buildings. “The murals are meant to educate through art, while also engaging our community in service," says Kaelyn Modrak, who is coordinating the event. "Visitors will understand the importance of a herring run or coastal change on Cape Cod by enjoying the beauty of the murals.”

Along with mural painting, which starts at 1:00 p.m., you can observe the unloading of an outdoor wood-fired kiln by Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill at 2:00 p.m.; learn about local ecosystems at a talk about salt marsh die off at 4:00 p.m.; watch two short films, Portrait of a Coast and Portrait of a Coast in the 20th Century, starting at 4:30 p.m. and compare and contrast them with Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies’ coastal geologist, Graham Giese. Bring a picnic dinner to enjoy a community picnic in the evening until music begins at the Payomet Performing Arts Center tent at 6:45 p.m.

Additional details on the day’s activities will be posted in the coming weeks on the park’s website at http://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/highlands-center-at-cape-cod-natio....

Highlands Fest is a celebration of the Highlands Center at Cape Cod National Seashore with its seven partner organizations: Cape Cod National Seashore, Barnstable County’s AmeriCorps Cape Cod, Payomet Performing Arts Center in Truro, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, and Highlands Center, Inc. The underlying mission is to foster the unique and cultural heritage of Cape Cod by engaging in an environment in which scientific research, arts creation, and educational programs can flourish.

Directions: Take Route 6 to the Highland Light Exit in North Truro. Go East on Highland Road. At the end, take a right onto South Highland Road. After 0.6 miles, take a left onto Old Dewline Road. The Highlands Center is at the end of the road.