Ron Beam,maintenance worker, explains the wildflower quiz board to visitors at the Wildlife Festival held on October 4, 2008 at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Kimberly Farah.

Nancy Haig, Minnesota Herpetological Society, introduces children to a snake during the Wildlife Festival at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge held on October 4, 2008. Photo by Kimberly Farah.

Lori Stevensen, Minnesota Private Lands Office, shares information on habitat restoration with visitors at the Wildlife Festival at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge held on October 4, 2008. Photo by Kimberly Farah.

Susan and Bradley Johnson, Friends of Sherburne NWR board members, staff the Friends membership table at the Wildlife Festival held at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge on October 4, 2008. Photo by Kimberly Farah.

More than 1,600 visitors attended the 15th annual Wildlife Festival held at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008. The beautiful 65 degree sunny day drew a crowd of all ages with a large number of families with pre-school and grade school children.  The event, which celebrated National Wildlife Refuge Week and the 43^rd Anniversary of Sherburne Refuge, highlighted wildlife and the wildlife-dependent recreation activities of wildlife observation, environmental interpretation and hunting.  Guided tours led by refuge volunteers and staff included an early morning crane watch, two nature walks, two bus tours on the Wildlife Drive and a horse drawn hayride which ran all day.  Feature presentations were a live raptor program by Allison Holzer from the University of Minnesota Raptor Center, and guitar, mandolin and banjo music and songs by Douglas Wood and his son Bryan.

Activities scheduled throughout the day included a wildlife scavenger hunt, clothespin butterfly making in nature crafts, a wildlife coloring contest, face painting, a bonfire, campfire songs by Dori Haugen, an archery workshop by the Rapids Archery Club, an air rifle workshop by the Minnesota DNR hunter education volunteers, and exhibits on wildflower seeds and tea, wildlife fur, feathers and bones, bird houses, refuge fire equipment, binoculars and spotting scopes, live reptiles, and a Partners for Fish & Wildlife station. A number of refuge service roads were open during the event to allow vehicle travel into the interior of the refuge. Several individuals who grew up on land now part of the refuge came especially to visit their old home site.

The event was co-sponsored by the refuge and the Friends of Sherburne with assistance from the Rapids Archery Club, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Hunter Education Instructors, the University of Minnesota Raptor Center, Minnesota Herpetological Society, and National Camera Exchange. 125 refuge volunteers and 15 refuge staff played an active role in making the event possible.  The Friends of Sherburne secured the support of 26 businesses from 11 towns making it possible for the event to be offered free to the public.