Editor's pick: Art and craft festival

Audubon Art and Craft Festival celebrates wildlife

Sat., July 23, and Sun., July 24, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Requested donation $4; under 12 free. Wallenpaupack Middle School Complex, Route 6 two miles south of Hawley, PA.

The Audubon Art and Craft Festival is a joint celebration of art and nature, dedicated to the preservation of our environment and to the artists and craftsmen whose work is inspired by its richness, beauty and diversity.

Over 90 wildlife and nature artists and expert craftsmen from 11 states will be featured at the festival, displaying and selling their original artwork and handcrafted wares. They work in mediums ranging from Chinese watercolor to Impressionistic art, photography, pottery, woodworking and fine glass work.

The wildlife that provides the theme for these artists and craftsmen will be represented at the festival as well. The Delaware Valley Raptor Center (DVRC) will have a booth featuring a number of live birds of prey, which will also be shown in a program “Birds of Prey” presented by the DVRC’s Bill Streeter at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. A variety of small mammals, owls and other wild animals will be on hand for a program presented by Kathy Dubin-Uhler, director of the Pocono Wildlife Rehab Center, at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, and the insect world will be represented by Ed Weseley of the Delaware Highlands Conservancy (DHC) and his monarch butterfly booth.

Adding to the media mix, theatre and film will also be used to express the environmental theme. A puppet show for children by DHC about conservation will be presented at 12:00, 1:30 and 3:00 p.m. both days, while an Audubon Nature Film Festival will be in progress in the middle school cafeteria throughout the festival, showing films such as “The Magic School Bus,” “Drive to the Coral Reefs” and “Inside the Earth,” (1:00 p.m. on Saturday) and “Ospreys” (Sunday at 4:35 p.m.).