The Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center celebrated its seventh annual Wild Mushroom Festival Sept. 28 in partnership with the Connecticut Valley Mycological Society. The “fungal festival” included mushroom identification, a market of edible mushrooms, and guest lecturers.
“Every September the Connecticut woods come alive with wild mushrooms and other colorful fungi,” said Maggie Jones, executive director of the DPNC, in a recent statement. “The Wild Mushroom Festival is unique because it is both an educational and an edible event.”
With the festival over, Director of Marketing & Communications Jennifer Johnson said the center has lots more to come this month.
On Oct. 9, children are invited to cool facts about spiders, typically featuring spiders found around the nature center.
“We actually have a ton of them,” she said, laughing. “All of our activities are really hands-on, and what we really try to do is connect nature and science so our classes are not only fun…but more than that, what we’re really doing is bridging the gap of connecting nature and science.”
On Oct. 11, the DPNC will offer free admission for the Migration Vacation program sponsored by the Bodenwein Public Benevolent Foundation. The program will cover animal migration patterns, with accompanying crafts, and time spent outside. The program is geared toward 3- to 6-year-olds and up.
Natural Tie-Dyeing will be held on Oct. 13, a Full Hunter Moon Walk will set off on Oct. 14, and the center’s annual meeting is Oct. 15.
“We have a short business meeting that starts off our session at 7 p.m. that day, but after that, there’s going to be a talk by a gentleman called Todd McLeish,” Johnson explained. “He is an author and wrote the book Golden Wings & Hairy Toes – Encounters with New England’s Most Imperiled Wildlife.”
McLeish will discuss endangered and imperiled wildlife in New England.
“That should be a fascinating evening. He’s a pretty well-known nature history writer in the New England area,” Johnson added. “It’s going to be at the nature center and it’s free…It’s going to be a great program for people who are interested in the nature center. Maybe they’ve never been here, or maybe it’s been a while. It’s free so they should come on out and take a look around the nature center and listen to a fascinating talk as well.”
University of Rhode Island professor of natural resources Peter August will visit the center on Oct. 23 for a program called “A Primer on the Lives of Bats.” Johnson said the program is geared toward adults and will include a slide show and lecture about bats.
For more information about these and other programs at the DPNC, contact the center at 860-536-1216 or visit www.dpnc.org.