Dan Chouinard has been a musician and storyteller based in Minnesota for 40 years. He has hosted radio shows, produced special broadcasts, organized community singalongs, biked around Europe with an accordion, accompanied Garrison Keillor on A Prairie Home Companion, and much more. But it all started on the St. Croix River, where he got his first music job in 1980 playing piano on a paddleboat during dinner cruises.

“The memories of all those days and evenings on the river are filled with gratitude and love for this place and for the people who work to restore and protect it,” Chouinard says.

Next month, for the first time since 2018, Chouinard will perform at a special event that celebrates the St. Croix River. “Once Upon a River” was originally organized by Chouinard and collaborators as an Earth Day event about 15 years ago. It has been on hiatus since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

But on April 6, “Once Upon a River” will be once more. Organized by Chouinard, North Woods and Waters of the St. Croix Heritage Area, and Festival Theatre, it will include several performers and storytellers. The event will be held in St. Croix Falls, Wis.

“The basic format and purpose remain unchanged,” Chouinard says. “We’ll celebrate and contemplate our love of the St. Croix River and watershed with poetry, stories, conversation and song.”

Chouinard will be joined by performers Prudence Johnson, Barbara McAfee, Unexpected Company Chorale, River City Quartet, Sharon Day, and Laurie Allmann. St. Croix 360 will join other groups before the concert in offering exhibits and information about the St. Croix River and its watershed.

The event will bring Chouinard back to near where his love of the St. Croix started. His family moved to Lindstrom, in the Chisago Lakes Area, when he was young. They took numerous trips to the river for canoeing and picnicking. Then, when he was old enough, he rode his bike to Taylors Falls and camped at Interstate Park, beginning a bike-camping passion that has taken him to Europe and elsewhere.

More than 40 years later, Chouinard will be just on the other side of the St. Croix, bringing people together who share his lifelong love.

“I hope people come away uplifted and curious, comforted and discomfited, eager to learn more, to get more involved, to get outside most importantly,” Chouinard said.

Tickets for “Once Upon a River” are $35 and available to purchase on the Festival Theatre website.