by Barbara Dixson
Anyone who turned up at the Spring Celebration the first Sunday in May anticipating the spring Candlelight Hike might have been confused. No lanterns! No one on stage! Instead, a whole new adventure!
This year when we met the inhabitants of Schmeeckle in human guise, it was in person. Hiking the Trail of Reflections, in groups of 20-25, as in the photo above and the first one below, we encountered Woodcock and Woodchuck; Robin and Scarlet Tanager; Fox and Coyote; and finally a Frog and Toad—one who seemed to have come to us from Paris!—and the Wood Duck who finally helped our friend Puddles find his family. All inviting us into the sounds of spring.
Woodcock vaunts his dancing prowress!
So many volunteers! It takes a master organizer like Melissa Ruether to sort us all out.
Griffin Bray was one of the instigators of the event plan, along with Schmeeckle graduate assistant Alex Mentele. Above, Griffin chats with Rick Rothman as the event sets up.
David, Donna, and Dan are ready to greet and orient all visitors.
If you shopped the hot deals in the gift shop during the celebration, you had the pleasure of meeting this delightful crew of student staff!
It seemed as if every child and half the adults in the Reserve had flowers, predator masks, or butterflies painted on their faces.
Crafting, anyone?
The education stations, grouped by the stage, invited adults as well as kids to consider birds’ nests, frog sounds, and the mammals and birds in the Reserve.
Several families commented to me that the beloved raptor show, usually mobbed with devoted viewers, was accessible even to little kids this year. Instead of the thousands of attendees from past springs, this year’s 500 or so made the face painting, the crafts, the raptors, the education stations, the free snacks, the s’more roasting, the character program, and the scavenger hunt around the trails calmly inviting to all.