Celebrate Iowa’s natural world with this new hands-on festival showcasing the wild and wonderful flora and fauna of our region, as well as outdoor recreation activities in our area. Grab food from local food trucks and enjoy a day spent exploring Johnson County’s Kent Park.

The event will feature hands-on learning activities, guided exploration, and animal meet & greets. Meet a live owl, study Iowa’s threatened box turtles, get your hands dirty making milkweed seed balls, pick up native plants for your yard, and more. Visitors can also enjoy guided bird walks, mushroom forays, and fishing activities.

Local food vendors will be on site throughout the day!

Activities will include:

– Live raptor meet & greets
– Native plant sale
– Guided bird walks
– Mushroom forays and specimen study
– Plein Air Painting
– Fishing
– Dip Netting for aquatic critters
– Hawk watch
– Reptile demonstrations & habitat walks
– Pollinator education
– Nature Trivia
– Hands-on milkweed seed ball making
– Featured education speakers
– DIY bird decal-making station
– Animal Biofacts education stations
– Bird nest education & native seed ball giveaway
– Mysteries of migration activity stations
– Prairie Display Activities
& more

Event Partners:

The Wings & Wild Things Festival is made possible through partnership with numerous local conservation-minded organizations. Partner groups include Iowa City Bird Club, Raptology, Prairie States Mushroom Club, Indian Creek Nature Center, Johnson County Master Gardeners of Iowa, Troutleaf Native Plants, Arts Iowa City’s ArtiFactory, Pollinator Partnership, Iowa Master Naturalists, Extant Relatives, Backyard Abundance, Raptology, Taproot Nature Experience, Trees Forever, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Wild Ones Seedling Chapter, The Xerces Society, UI Wild, Bur Oak Land Trust, and others.

Food:

Be sure to bring an appetite! Local food vendors Griddle Me This and Luna’s Tacos of Iowa City will be on site cooking up delicious food to enjoy throughout this event.