PRESS RELEASE
September 17, 2019
By Paul Fletcher, WildWings Coordinator
The 10th annual 2019 WildWings Nature & Arts Festival begins October 6th, 2019
The Somenos Marsh is pleased to announce the 10th anniversary WildWings Nature &
Arts Festival begins Sunday October 6 with Celebrate Somenos, a family Fun day at the
Somenos Marsh Open Air Classroom where presenters occupy each boardwalk rest
station with information about wildlife photography, fish, raptors, weaving with natural
materials and Cowichan Tribes history. There will be a kids passport to Nature passport
and a great prize for one participating child. This is followed by the ever-popular
WildWings festival launch party and WildWings art show opening reception
Wednesday October 9th at Just Jakes Restaurant in downtown Duncan.
Twenty one additional art, cultural and nature events follow until it ends with the
Nature of Cowichan Photography Competition People’s Choice awards and festival
wrap up party Tuesday October 29 at the Old Firehouse Wine Bar in Duncan City
Square.
Other events include exploring the Koksilah secret old growth forest, an evening walk
with bats and owls, basket making with plant native materials, a fun Paint Night, two
night of fish talks (one with whisky) and learning about estate gifts for conservation.
Some events are hands-on including a heron rookery cleanup in Cowichan Bay, a coastal
waterbird count, and a biodiversity planting workshop on Somenos Creek where we will
plant trees to shade out the invasive Parrots Feather plant.
One of the newest events is our very first ‘It Ain’t Easy Being Green Gala’ at the Birds
Eye Cove Farm with a plated diner by Farm’s gate, Averill Creek wines and Craig Street’s
WildWings beer on tap. Our Keynote speaker will be Patrick Morrow, a Canadian
adventure photographer who is famous for his ascent of Mt Everest in 1982 as well as
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Box 711, Duncan, British Columbia, V9L 3Y1; Email: info@somenosmarsh.com
his being the first person in the world to climb the seven highest mountains of the seven
continents.
This year we are very pleased to welcome Cowichan Tribes as a partner in WildWings.
To celebrate this relationship WildWings will be hosting a number of cultural events
including a medicinal plant walks, learning how to cook salmon the Salish way, a movie
presentation of Harold Joe’s Dust n’ Bones, Ethnobotany with Nancy Turner, and
nature’s influence on Salish art.
We wish to acknowledge that many individuals, organizations and businesses play an
important role in the success of the festival including the Government of Canada, Just
Jakes Restaurant, Cowichan Valley Voice, Community Farm Store, LT Roofing, Nature
Trust of BC, Mosaic Forest Management, CVRD and Municipality of North Cowichan.
The good news is that many events are free, by donation, or with reduced prices for
families. To learn more about festival events, to book tickets or to reserve a place, please
visit www.wildwingsfestival.com
For more information
Paul Fletcher, WildWings Coordinator
250 732-0462
paul@fletcherfoto.ca
Link to Press Release pdf: First WildWings Press Release
