On the weekend of August 27^th & 28^th, Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge held its fifth annual Dragonfly Festival.  Previously held in the city of Roswell, this year’s event was moved to the refuge for the first time to help highlight the construction of our new Visitor Center building.  Future festivals are scheduled to be held permanently at this new site.  This year, over 500 people attended this special event.  Highlighting the festival were the guided van tours lead by dragonfly experts who stopped and explored the numerous dragonfly viewing areas of the refuge.  Refuge Biologist Gordon Warrick, Dragonfly expert Bob Larson, and Professor James Laswell of Texas A&M University led the guided van tours and shared their dragonfly knowledge and expertise with curious and interested visitors.  Other activities during the event included a guided bird watching tour, refuge discovery tour, face painting, kids art table, and conservation exhibit displays.  Prior to the Dragonfly Festival, a children’s poster contest was held in the City of Roswell schools.  Over 800 entries were entered from the local community.  Eight year old Shelby Halverson, from Berrendo Elementary, was this year’s poster contest winner.  As part of the contest, Shelby’s poster artwork was displayed on a billboard on Main Street in downtown Roswell to advertise the Dragonfly Festival.  It was also featured on t-shirts and coffee mugs that were sold by the Friends of Bitter Lake NWR to raise funds for refuge projects.