North Coast Nature Festival
Friday, April 23 • 7:30 p.m.
Saturday , April 24 • 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. &
Evening Presentation 7 p.m.
Sunday, April 25 • 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Rocky River Nature Center
Rocky River Reservation • North Olmsted
FREE!
Nothing says spring quite like April showers and the rebirth of flowers, leaves on trees, bird migration, and Cleveland Metroparks “North Coast Nature Festival.”
Celebrate the earth's reawakening at this free weekend festival for nature lovers, featuring "The Nature & Art Show" exhibits of nature-related organizations and vendors, including: Back to the Wild (Sunday only), Cuyahoga Astronomical Association, Dodd Camera, Eagle Optics, Lake Erie Nature & Science Center (Saturday only), National Wildlife Federation, Northern Ohio Association of Herpetologists, Northeast Ohio Sierra Club, Rocky River Watershed Council, Western Cuyahoga Audubon Association, Western Reserve Wild Ones, and Wild Birds Unlimited.
Festival-goers also can enjoy nature art/photography exhibits and sales from: A & M Galleries, Begin Designs, Birds from Behind, Birds Head Forge, Bugs & More, Butterfly's Magnetic Jewelry, carvings with Charles Topfer, Earthart Studious, Environmental Photography with Mary Sandmann, garden charms with Geri Coletta, gourd bird houses with Jan Van Valkenburg, jewelry by Barbara Gorman, K. Berkheimer Photography, Lou Gaeta Photography, Nature Scenes Photography, Niki's Naturals, Pens, Etc., painter Jackie Hixon, painter Mary Ryan, painter Monika Rock, painter Paul Fletcher, quilts by Sara Cooley, Re-Memories, Scentsy Wickless Candles, and Southwest Camera Club.
Cleveland Metroparks EarthWords Nature Shop will feature its spring line of nature merchandise and a kid's nature print booth. Cleveland Metroparks Institute of the Great Outdoors (IGO) also will be on hand promoting the summer IGO schedule of program and trips.
The event also features guest speakers, hikes for all ages, live animal presentations, a digital photography scavenger hunt, musical entertainment, a birding field trip (off-site, pre-registration required), children’s activities, EarthWords Nature Shop t-shirt stamping, and more. The festivities take place on both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – plus, a special evening presentation Friday night and a night hike on Saturday.
Friday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. Past, Present and Future – Richard Crossley
A story of past lessons learned from days growing up in the wild British birding scene, from travels around the world to living in Cape May. Told in a Yorkshire brogue through a Camera lens that loves color and art. But what of birding in the future – perhaps this will change your thoughts!
This year’s featured speaker is internationally-known birder, photographer and author Richard Crossley. Crossley is a Yorkshireman who, growing up, lived for playing sport. At the age of 10 he first went birding with his schoolteacher – this began a lifelong love affair with birding. By 21 he had hitchhiked over 100,000 miles chasing birds across Britain and Europe. After graduation, he made his first trip to the USA and fell in love with Cape May. He now lives there with his wife Debra, and daughters Sophie and Sam.
In 2002, Richard started working on The Shorebird Guide. The unique photographs required for this book were unavailable so getting them became Richard’s mission. This fuelled his love and obsession for photography, book design and understanding how we look at birds. Richard’s father is an abstract artist and many of his influences can be seen in Richard’s work.
Today, Richard is close to completion of The ID Guide to be published by Princeton University Press. The unique perspective and scale of this project has already garnered much attention, not only in the US but overseas. Additional books are also underway.
BIRDING THE NORTH COAST
Saturday, April 24 • 6 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$40 (includes transportation, stop at the nature festival, leadership, lunch, and snacks).
Join local birders Ken Gober and Bill Deininger for a day-long exploration of some of the best birding hot spots in Greater Cleveland, including: Headlands Beach State Park in Lake County and Sandy Ridge Reservation in Lorain County. We hope to see a wave of colorful Neotropical migrants that includes Prothonotary and Black-throated Green Warblers, flycatchers, gnatcatchers, Blue-headed Vireos, and more. Red-headed Woodpeckers, Sandhill Cranes, and Bald Eagles are all possibilities on this full day in the field.
At 3:30 p.m. we'll stop at Rocky River Nature Center to enjoy an hour at the "North Coast Nature Festival." Binoculars required. Spotting scopes highly recommended. Space is limited to 16. Registration required and begins April 1st; to register, call 216-341-1704.
Classroom Presentation – Scoping Out the Night Skies with Telescopes (Jim Cofer)
12:30 p.m
Bird Hike with Judy Semroc & Larry Rosche
1 p.m.
Trailside Theater – Live Animal Program
1:30 p.m
Amphibian Hike
2 p.m.
Classroom Presentation – Biodiversity: Is a Requiem in Order? (Dr. Michael Melampy)
2 p.m.
Pond Dipping for Kids
2:30 p.m.
Trailside Theater – Musical Fun
3 p.m.
Family Wildflower Walk
3:30 p.m.
Trailside Theater – Live Animal Program
3:30 p.m.
Classroom Presentation – Container Gardening (Pebbles Bush & Tim Peters)
Calling All Kids 12 and Under!
Print out and color in the pileated woodpecker coloring page and redeem the finished coloring page at The Big Show Catering concession stand at the North Coast Nature Festival event for a FREE treat! And, redeem the attached coupon to The Big Show catering concession stand for a buy one hot dog/receive a FREE Snow-cone the North Coast Nature Festival event!
Stop by and enjoy:
Hotdogs
$2.00
Mac & Cheese
$3.00
BBQ pork
$4.00
Cheese
$0.50
Sausage
$3.50
Veggie Burger
$3.50
Chips
$1.25
Cookies & Brownies
$1.50
Water
$1.25
Pop
$1.25
Snow Cones
$1.50
Catering provided by The Big Show catering
PARKING INFO
Visitors can park at Rocky River Nature Center and along Valley Parkway.
Rocky River Nature Center is located at 24000 Valley Parkway, between Cedar Point Road and Shepard Lane in Rocky River Reservation in North Olmsted – just off the I-480/Clague Road exit (westbound) and I-480/Columbia Road exit (eastbound).
