ROWAN COUNTY — The fifth annual Creek Week kicked off on Saturday with the High Rock Lake Clean Sweep. The week-long celebration of the importance and influence of Rowan County’s creeks and waterways will run through Saturday, Sept. 23, with environmental-focused events happening every day.

After the High Rock Lake Clean Sweep on Saturday, other events such as a medication take-back event and Spencer’s Race to the River 5k continued the festivities while Sunday saw free fishing and kayaking at Lake Corriher as well as an educational creek crawl hosted by Muddy Sneakers.

The rest of the week will see around 20 more events held every day through Saturday afternoon. On Tuesday, two Wetland Walks, one at noon and one at 6 p.m., will give an educational and interactive tour of Catawba College’s Fred Stanback Jr. Ecological Preserve. There will also be a Wine, Water and Whiskey tasting event at 7 p.m. at Shug’s in Salisbury. The tasting event will cost $35 for single tickets and $60 for couples and provide education about how water quality affects everything people drink.

Water Wednesday will provide families an opportunity for free fishing and environmental education at City Park in Salisbury from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Thursday’s first event is a tour of the Main Street Marketplace’s hydroponics garden in China Grove at 10 a.m., and then a tour of New Sarum’s brewhouse at 6 p.m. where a brewing professional will provide information on why water quality is so important to the beer creation process. After the tours, New Sarum will also host a team trivia event in partnership with Rowan Creek Week.

Friday begins with a tour of a water and wastewater treatment facility at 1 p.m., which will include a discussion of where the community’s drinking water comes from as well as what happens to wastewater once it goes down the drain. Friday evening, there will be another clean-up event, this one at Town Creek Park as well as along South Arlington Street in Salisbury. The clean-up event, which starts at 5 p.m., is hosted by Rowan Young Professionals.

On Saturday, the final day of Creek Week, there will be another clean-up event at 8:30 a.m. at Heroes Creek Branch near Overton Elementary and Horizons Unlimited. An art exhibit at Rail Walk in Salisbury will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. which will include watercolor paintings, some of which contain water scenes. Finally, the Creek Week finale will be held at 10 a.m. at Horizons Unlimited in Salisbury.

“We are excited to host this free, public event to bring hands-on science education to our community,” said Elise Tellez, director of Horizons Unlimited in a release. “Rowan Creek Week is a great way to celebrate and get families excited about the biodiversity of our local waters.”

Some of the events request that those who wish to attend register before the day of, especially the tours of various facilities. For more information on how to register, the location of events or on the events themselves, go to www.rowancreekweek.org.