Kawartha Conservation looking to make the second Autumn Festival even better

DAN CEARNS The Standard

KAWARTHA LAKES: Kawartha Conservation is hoping their second annual Autumn Festival is even better than the first one.

The event will be held on Saturday, September 23rd, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., at the Ken Reid Conservation Area in Lindsay.

“The amazing thing about Autumn Fest is, it’s a completely free event for our community to come out and participate in. There’s no cost of admission, no cost for parking, and all the activities we host throughout the day are free, for our community to come out and enjoy,” Melissa Creasy-Alexander, the local conservation authority’s Conservation Areas Technician, told The Standard.

The event will include: a Birds of Prey Demonstration; a petting zoo, an informative presentation, from Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue, as well as an appearance by the Reptilia Zoo. New this year will be a food truck and vendors’ market.

“Our events are very largely supported by our community, and that’s how we’re able to offer these things. One of the things we were talking about, when we were sitting down and discussing how we can continue to make these events possible for our community, one of the ideas [which] came up, was incorporating a vendors’ market and food trucks. There’s a fee for a vendor or food truck to come out and purchase a booth space, and some of those costs are going to help us offset the costs of hosting these events,” Ms. Creasy-Alexander explained.

Last year, the event was held over a span of several days. However, Kawartha Conservation decided they wanted to run the event a bit differently this year.

“We were [privileged] to welcome around 800 different families out to the park, to enjoy our different activities. This year, we have decided to just pack one day full of activities, and we’re hoping to see the same numbers and more,” Ms. Creasy-Alexander said.

More information on this event can be found online, at www.kawarthaconservation.com/festivals.