COEUR d'ALENE - As they stretched their arms into the clear blue sky, their weight distributed and their bare feet braced against the soft earth.

Led by distinguished women in their 50s, 60s and 70s, many of the roughly 60 people who participated in the yoga mob closed their eyes and smiled as they moved in unity with one another in the warm spring sunshine.

"There's a togetherness you feel," said yoga mob participant Denise Buettner, 64, of Coeur d'Alene. "You feel everybody's energy."

The yoga mob that formed Saturday afternoon on the lawn of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library included men and women of all ages and abilities, wearing a wide spectrum of colors, patterns and materials as their bodies flowed to soft instrumental music.

"Yoga is for everybody," said Trish Martin, 75, of Coeur d'Alene. "It helps with balance, flexibility, it's the interaction with other people in the community - that's extremely important when you get older, that you feel connected. I mean, I could go on and on."

Martin teaches yoga at the Jewett House and was one of the "wisdom years" yogis who led the group. She has been practicing yoga for 40 years.

"It's not about what I can't do anymore, it's about what I can still do," she said. "It's never too late to start."

Teresa Crowley, 54, of Coeur d'Alene, represented the fifth decade of age of the "wisdom years" yogis. She said as she ages, the way she practices yoga changes, and that's just natural.

"I'm just here to encourage middle-aged people that you can start yoga and do yoga at any age, really," she said. "It's a lifestyle. It's a way of life."

The yoga mob was just one of the many sights to see at the 15th annual Coeur d'Alene Earth Day Fair.

The festivities included arts, crafts, henna tattoos, customizable Earth Day shirts, free seed packets, education on sustainable living, a recycling station for electronics and more.

"I think it's a big deal," said Ashley Piaskowski of Coeur d'Alene. "It kind of generates new excitement, new buzz. I also think it also helps people see what Coeur d'Alene could become."

Several vendors and educational booths were on site, including a mobile bug lab at the University of Idaho water outreach table. Jim Ekins of Coeur d'Alene is the water educator of the northern district for the U of I, and he joyfully explained to curious children and parents about the stonefly and crane fly larvae that were flipping around in the shallow water of the "bug lab."

"These are all water bugs that came out of a local creek," he said. "These macroinvertebrates tell me about the water quality. The bugs have a very narrow tolerance for pollution."

Ekins emphasized the importance of clean water for everyone, from insects to people.

"It's important to individuals and it's important to this community," he said. "People come here from distant places and fall in love with this community and bring their businesses here; I mean, really, this place exists because of all the clean water we have. Look at California, they're running out of water. We're very fortunate to have all this water."

Informational booths included organizations such as Kootenai Environmental Alliance and the Friends of Tubbs Hill. Susan Drumheller of Sandpoint represented the Idaho Conservation League, which presented a display that informed about issues including oil and coal and oil transport by rail through Sandpoint and planting willow trees along the Clark Fork delta, for which the organization is in need of volunteers. She said the issue of oil and coal transport greatly affects the people and environment of Sandpoint and the state overall.

"In Coeur d'Alene, I don't think people see it as much because (the trains) skirt the Rathdrum Prairie," she said. "It hasn't generated as much interest here, but it's a huge issue for Idaho because we have all the impacts and we have none of the benefits."

Drumheller, a North Idaho associate for the Idaho Conservation League, said the organization has been participating in the Earth Day Fair for several years.

"I think Earth Day is a good time to be reminded that we are stewards of this planet and this place," she said. "We value where we live because of its beauty and its clean air and its clean water, but that takes active vigilance, and if you really care about this place you need to be informed and stay involved."