From live animal exhibits to foot-stomping music, the 12th annual Wild Amelia Nature Festival, set for Friday through Sunday, has a lot to offer.
Wild Amelia, a nonprofit organization run entirely by volunteers, conducts educational nature programs year-round that culminate in the three-day festival. Many festival events and activities – including the expo of exhibits and activities for adults and children Saturday and some of the ecotours – are free and open to the public. The mission of Wild Amelia is to encourage appreciation and careful stewardship of the island’s wild places and wildlife through education.
The festival kicks off with a rehabilitated sea turtle release Friday at Main Beach by the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. This heartwarming occasion – watching a healthy turtle return to its ocean home – is a festival highlight. The Georgia Sea Turtle Center of Jekyll Island will release two rehabilitated juvenile green sea turtles back to their ocean home Friday at 10 a.m. at Main Beach. The two turtles – Snowy Owl and Plankton – have been assessed as healthy enough to return to the sea after receiving treatment by the center’s staff.
On Friday evening, a sunset cruise with Amelia River Excursions will be offered as a fundraiser for Wild Amelia.
The festival offers ecotours – hikes and bike, boat, golf cart and Segway trips – throughout the three-day period.
The slate of Saturday’s festival activities includes more ecotours and the expo at the Atlantic Avenue Recreation Center, 2500 Atlantic Ave., from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. This expo will feature exhibits from nonprofit nature and conservation groups as well as green, sustainable businesses in the community. The Center for Wildlife Education and the Lamar Q. Bell, Jr. Raptor Center of Statesboro, Ga. will be on hand with their raptor exhibit for the first time, and Wild Amelia asks that dogs be kept at a distance from these mighty raptors.
Another first-time exhibitor will be the mobile learning lab of WaterVentures of Crystal Springs. This lab has hands-on learning activities about sources of water. Among the familiar faces will be Shari Blissett-Clark, who is known as the bat lady, who will return with her live critters.
Again this year there will be a special “Passport Program” for children. They will be invited to find the answers to a number of questions about the festival’s mascot this year – the pelican – and they will receive a prize when they have done so. Special hands-on activities for the children will be offered in the Kids’ Niche on the lawn of the Recreation Center, with exhibits from the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, Amelia River Excursions, the Omni Nature Center and White Oak Conservation Center, among others. Music by Laid Back and refreshments will add to the day. For the shopper in all of us, a silent auction ranging from items for children to art and photography and excursions like a daytrip to Cumberland Island, will be ongoing until 2 p.m. At 2:30 p.m., the winners of the 10th annual Wild Amelia Nature Photography Contest will be announced as the expo begins to wind down.
Sunday will dawn with sunrise yoga on the beach and continue with other ecotours.
Registration for events is ongoing. For more information, visit www.wildamelia.org.