Editor’s note: Visit Heritage Canyon, next door to Andresen Nature Center, on Friday, May 6, and Saturday, May 7, 2022, from 10:00 a.m.-to-4:00 p.m. both days. Eleven buildings and the grounds will be open.
Andresen Nature Center, 409 N. 4th Street, Fulton, IL, will celebrate the remnant prairies in Whiteside County, during Dutch Days, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., on Saturday, May 7, 2022. The Backyard Prairies Program stresses the importance of keeping prairies interconnected. Andresen Nature Center contains a small reconstructed prairie. Visitors may take a packet of five prairie grass seeds, to plant at home. Another packet contains seeds of 20 species of native prairie plants.
Located within 100 yards of the Mississippi River and adjacent to Heritage Canyon, the Center is dedicated to providing insight, information, appreciation, and conservation of our local natural resources.
Visit the new colony of 2000 bees in the Observation Beehive. There is a large display of free-form honeycomb, which still contains golden honey.
Children will participate in a number of fun activities:
- build a “sprout house” to observe the roots of a growing plant.
- outside, launch water bottle rockets 60-70 feet into the air.
- outside, make “silhouette” sun prints with found objects (if the sun cooperates.)
- outside, follow the Storybook Trail from station-to-station, reading the pages.
- visit the onsite Twin Fawns Prairies.
- admire twice as many taxidermy displays as in 2018, including a Great Horned Owl.
- roast marshmallows over a wood fire.
For more information, contact the Nature Center at 815-208-7059, or email AndresenNatureCenter@gmail.com.