Saturday, May 29, 2010

Fort Fest cancelled due to weather.

Hello everyone. I regret to inform you that Fort Fest, which was to run tomorrow, May 30, at Fort Normandeau, has been cancelled due to the snow.

Sorry for any inconvenience this last minute cancellation may have caused.

Hope to see you out for our next event: the Vancouver Aquarium's AquaVan on Saturday, June 5 at the Kerry Wood Nature Centre.

Until then, stay warm.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Here comes the fun!

Hi everyone. We have lots of family-friendly things coming up shortly at the Kerry Wood Nature Centre and Historic Fort Normandeau: here's a bit of a teaser...

This Saturday, May 29, the Red Deer Garden Club will be hosting their annual (as in every year) Perennial Plant Share. It will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of the Nature Centre and is a great opportunity to fill your flower gardens. They do have a list of invasive, and therefore unacceptable, plants so if you want to bring something in, please call ahead for that.

Sunday, May 30 is Fort Fest 2010 out at Historic Fort Normandeau. It runs from noon to 5 p.m. and admission is $3/person or $10/family at the gate. There will be all sorts of things to see and do: from musicians to First Nations dancers, archery, crafts, games, homemade ice cream and burgers, tug-of-war...the list goes on. Come on out for some old-fashioned fun!

(I should also note that, now that the new parking lot is completed, your family shouldn't have any trouble finding a parking spot.)

On Saturday, June 5, we have a special treat: the AquaVan is coming from the Vancouver Aquarium! Come and see creatures from the ocean; this is a great afternoon out with little kids. The AquaVan displays will be out from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is by suggested donation of $3/person or $10/family.

On Thursday, June 10, we will be partnering with ReThink Red Deer, RDC Green Campus and RePower Alberta to bring you three guest speakers talking on green energy and its many applications. The presentations will be from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. This event is free to attend, though donations are welcome. Hope to see you there!

And last, but not least, is Guerilla Nature Art Day. On Sunday, June 13, from 1 to 5 p.m., we will be hosting artist Emily Neufeld as she help inspire us to make nature- based art in Festival Field. Come out and see what kind of art your family makes from found materials. This event is part of the Artists About Town week leading up to the Red Deer Artwalk Festival.

So, that's about it for the next few weeks. Look for our June to August event calendar, coming out soon, for all that's going on in the summer months.

'Til next time...

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Invasion... of the good kind


Excuse the fuzzy cameraphone picture, but it was the best I could do at the time.

I was at McKenzie Trail watching a pond study today, and couldn't help but notice that the picnic shelter was being invaded.  Many, many (it will probably be hundreds, by the end of it) dragonfly nymphs were crawling out of the pond and up the shelter.  The students doing the pond study were lucky enough to see several of them split their skins and begin to emerge as adult dragonflies.  Pretty cool demonstration of metamorphosis there, don't you think?

If you happen to be down at McKenzie pond in the next week or so, be sure to keep your eye open for the emerging dragonfly nymphs.  They may be hard to spot at first since they blend in so well with the wooden deck, but once you first see them you'll start finding them all over the place.