Activities for all ages at WACF Earth Day celebration
By Deb PattersonStaff WriterWawasee Area Conservancy Foundation Education Center will come alive with activity for people of all ages Saturday, April 27, as it hosts its annual Earth Day celebration. Activities are planned from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The celebration event and all activities are free to those who stop in at the center, located on SR 13, south of Syracuse.Dress for the weather and take part in the nearly 20 activities being planned. Local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts will be helping prepare free hot dogs for guests.Among the activities will be making such things as seed balls with the members of the Syracuse-Wawasee Garden Club, planting a tree on the property with help from WACF members and Girl Scouts; trying your hand at shooting a bow and arrow with John Blunk, Wawasee Middle School archery teacher, take an interpretive nature walk with Kaz Szynal, and put your name on the spot, and try your hand at geocaching as there are five geocaching spots on the property.Learn about the great bird migration with Nancy Brown, wakeboarding with Bart’s Water Sports, the importance of nesting boxes with Ducks Unlimited, watch a demonstration on muzzle loading with the Stones Trace Regulators, hear from specialists at Kosciusko County Recycling about composting and recycling, and get your hands in the soil and Feel the Grit with Wawasee High School FFA members as they explain the different types of soils.Watch Kim Nguyen do fly tying and Jeff Mesaros show the art of arrowhead making. Randy Cesco will demonstrate duck and goose calls as well as making a few at the event. You can even try doing a goose call. Syracuse Lions Club will have nets for catching butterflies, while you can learn about the Syracuse-Wawasee Trails from members of the trail committee. Members of the Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams will have information on zebra mussels, while WACF board members will share information on clean water. Metal sculptures by Rick Lemberg will be on display. You will also be able to take a look at the watershed map and find your home, marking it with your name.Guests are being asked to register and participate in a drawing for a free native tree seedling.