Editor's pick: A festival nature-lovers flock to: Audubon Art & Craft festival

Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Wallenpaupack School Complex on Route 6, two miles south of Hawley, PA. Suggested donation $4; children under 12 free. www.audubonfestival.com.

For the 21st year, nature artists, craftsmen, birders, nature lovers, wildlife handlers and children will converge on The Northeast Pennsylvania Audubon Society’s annual Art & Craft Festival. The event features a wide variety of attractions from craftsmen’s demonstrations to nature films, wildlife rehabilitators and nature-center displays.

The show is notable for its Wildlife Art Show, featuring 30 of the most outstanding wildlife artists from the East Coast, whose work will be both exhibited and sold. The show is invitational and juried, meaning that only artists of known quality are invited and items exhibited have been reviewed and selected by a committee of peers, ensuring the quality of the work that is shown. It is also indoors and fully air-conditioned, assuring customer comfort even in sweltering weather.

In addition, over 95 craftsmen from 11 states will demonstrate their techniques and sell their handcrafted wares. Crafts of all kinds will be represented, including pottery, woodworking, fine glasswork, woodcarving, leather carving, sheepskin, wheat weaving and metalworking.

A perennial favorite exhibitor at the show is the Delaware Valley Raptor Center, which brings live birds of prey to give visitors a rare close-up look at these magnificent creatures, that normally stay well away from human company. The Audubon society has also created some “be part of the solution” exhibits. The phrase comes from Al Gore’s movie on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and spells out individual actions that we can all take to make a difference in the ecological health of the planet.

Other features of the show will include hand-crafted door prizes, puppet-making, children’s activities and plenty of home-made food.

Proceeds benefit the Northeast PA Audubon Society’s eight Environmental Scholarship Awards, support many conservation programs for the region, and maintain the society’s two wetland sanctuaries.