A Great Day To Celebrate Earth Day At WACF
Luna Verheij, Holland (the Netherlands); Dakota Nguyen and Luke Kompagne, try their hand at archery. Kipp Mullet and Robby Balogh are ready to help if needed. (Photos by Deb Patterson)
SYRACUSE — Families and individuals visited the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation’s Levinson-LaBrosse Lakes & Wetlands Education Center for its first Earth Day Festival Saturday afternoon. There was fun for everyone and a great opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.
“It was better than we expected,” stated Dave Brandes, past chairman and board member early in the event about the turn out. Heather Harwood, executive director, noted several hours into the event the turn out had been really good.
It was estimated close to 200 people were at the education center visiting the 14 different stations. Free hot dogs and chips were provided by WACF and served by Syracuse Boy Scout Pack 3828.
The day was perfect for learning about archery, learning how to do fly tying, trying your hand at fishing, learning about wake boarding, flint knapping, making duck nesting boxes, learning about soils, the watershed and making seed bombs. Guests even had the opportunity to plant several dozen trees on the property, with the help of Wawasee FFA members. A number of adults learned for the first time about the Syracuse-Wawasee trails and the future plans for more trails.
The events began at the Ruddell Pavilion where guests could get a wristband or necklace and sign up to receive newsletters from the WACF. From there the festival activities followed the pathway leading guests out to the lakefront.
For some this was the first time visiting the education center and an opportunity to see the property.
Those who came for the event left with knowledge from a variety of areas.
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- Cindy Peterson and Pam Schumm place banners along SR 13 for the day’s events. WACF purchased banners to place near the highway on days there are events.
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- Delaney Delagrange uses soy sauce to represent fertilizer in creating a watershed, with the help of Nancy Brown.
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- Nora Dailey watches intently at how Alexis Matney plants a tree.
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- Destinee Bornkamp, a member of Wawasee FFA, and Rhys Jonsson work together to plant a tree.
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- Zack Ulrey and Braxton Miller enjoy their hot dogs served by the Syracuse Boy Scouts.
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- Kim Nguyen shows interested youngsters the art of tying flies for fishing.
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- John Fallon talks with Mike Coggeshall of the Stone’s Trace Regulators about their display.
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- Samuel Kompagne gets a little help in archery from Kipp Mullet.
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- Lauren Ramirez, a member of Wawasee FFA, shows Abigail Fawley, a soil sample.
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- Sylvia Dixon gets a closer look at the nesting box with her brother Jamisen and father Joshua Dixon in the background.
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- A closer look at an arrow head being made.
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- Jade Gay, Wolfe Lake, uses a special hammer to chip away the stone to get the desired shape to make the arrow head. Burlington Chert stone from Missouri was being used by the flint knappers.
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- Jeff Mesaros, Syracuse, works on flint knapping, the making of an arrow head from stone.
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- David Gonzales tries his hand at fishing on the WACF pier with the help of Jared Knipper, Webster Lake Muskie Club. Km Nguyen is shown fishing in the back.
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- Aryeana Terry, Zaidyn Ferrer, Pam Sanchez and Cailyb Ferrer roll the soil and seeds into balls to make seed balls to take home and plant. Participants had a choice of milkweed or coneflower seed bombs. Marty Cesco and Charlotte Hill, members of the Syracuse-Wawasee Garden Club, are shown on the right providing instruction.
