WildWings Nature & Arts Festival

The Return of the Stseelhtun’ by Stuart Pagaduan

The WildWings Nature & Arts Festival (WNAF) was established in 2009, by the Somenos Marsh Wildlife Society. WNAF is an annual series of community events that bring attention to the biodiversity of the Cowichan Valley by using nature as a background to celebrate the interconnectedness of nature, art, culture, and community.

This year’s WildWings Nature & Arts Festival will take place from September 22nd to October 26th, 2024. It will be a smaller festival this year and will focus more on the serious conservation issues we are currently facing in the S’amunu (Somenos) Watershed.

Our two key events that bookend the festival, the WildWings Nature Art Show opening reception and Festival Launch event at Just Jakes, and the Green Gala (aka the ‘It Ain’t Easy Being Green’ Gala) at the Birds Eye Cove Farm, are still happening.

The big change this year is the WildWings Nature Art Show at Just Jakes that will exhibit 40 artist-painted Swallow nest boxes instead of our traditional nature art show. The Artist-Painted Nest Box Exhibition & Auction will feature 40 nest boxes by local artists including several painted by well-known indigenous artists including the Marston brothers, Maynard Johnny, and Stuart Pagaduan, as well as some the Cowichan Valley’s better-known artists such as Will Millar, Laurel Hibbert and our long-time Somenos supporter, Coco Jones, who have all agreed to participate. We are also very honoured to have a beautiful nest box with the front painted by Robert Bateman.

All the nest boxes will be auctioned off using an online auction site starting with the show opening on September 29 at 5pm. The auction will remain open until 6pm on Friday October 25. More information will be available on our nest boxes page.

Please visit our events page for our current events listings. They will be updated there as details are finalized.