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Festival brings children, animals together
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Gilbert-Santan: Joshua Peterson, 11, Dave Peterson and Cheri Peterson of Gilbert learn about a Western Screech Owl during the Annual Feathered Friends Festival at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert.
Laura Segall, For the Tribune
LEARN: Andrew Sakauye, 5, of Mesa checks out a parrot Saturday during the Feathered Friends Festival at the Riparian Institute in Gilbert.
Laura Segall, For the Tribune
A desert hairy scorpion and Vietnamese centipede greeted children Saturday at the eighth annual Feathered Friends Festival in Gilbert.
"I think the best thing about the festival is that the kids can see the insects and animals up close," said Joanna Best, a Gilbert resident who came with her children and a friend. "Personally, my favorite was the insect exhibit. The volunteer was very knowledgeable and the kids loved it."
The festival at the Riparian Institute also featured guided bird walks and various types of exhibits lining the pathways of the preserve to appeal to different ages and interests.
Although most of the exhibits were free, some that included activities asked participants for a donation to benefit the institute.
For those who didn't want to hold a snake or see a brown recluse spider, other booths offered arts and crafts. The Girl Scouts in Troop 264 and their leader, Nancy Arnold, helped visitors make pine cone bird feeders with peanut butter and birdseed.
"Everyone's been having a great time - the kids and the participants," Arnold said. "It has been a good balance between the girls participating and getting their service hours."
For the ecology club at Gilbert Mesquite High School, the festival was a good way to inform people about different aspects of the environment through four activities it hosted.
Club sponsors John Dole and Daryl Dubas said the club has been coming to the festival every year and now has five tables.
The students from the Mesquite club also sold reusable cloth grocery bags at the festival for $2, with the profits going to the Nature Conservancy.
Marilyn Ringland, who has been a volunteer for the Riparian Institute for two months, said the festival is a great event because of the opportunities it presents for children.
"We are here to educate the children," Ringland said. "The thing that is great about the festival is that the kids get to be outside in the fresh air and become more aware of the environment."
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