SEBASTIAN — In a weekend rich with outdoor entertainment choices and great weather, hundreds headed to Sebastian’s Riverview Park for Saturday’s annual Pelican Island Wildlife Festival. It was the 112th anniversary of the Pelican Island Wildlife Refuge, the first national refuge in the country, as decreed by President Teddy Roosevelt, who was present as official emcee in the person of Joe Weigand.
Aboard pontoon boats, visitors got up close and personal with the actual festival namesake island. Lining the park’s winding, oak-shaded sidewalks were scores of exhibitors offering wonderful opportunities to enjoy and to learn about the unique local environment: arts and crafts, boating and fishing, live displays featuring birds, snakes, fish and other lagoon ecosystem dwellers; numerous environmental non-profits and government agencies, rangers from the Archie Carr, Merritt Island and Pelican Island wildlife refuges; and, of course, lots of food, beverages and music.
A large crowd gathered to learn such sea turtle facts as: a mother turtle starts reproducing at about 20-25 and can lay eggs for the next 75 years, taking a year off after each year of egg-laying; among the turtles’ local predators are, surprisingly, coyotes, and poaching does still occur, albeit infrequently.
The Ranger reminded the crowd that turtles are endangered and protected by law. “DON’T EAT THEM!”
In a kids’ activity area, Amelia Heath, 6 ½, and little brother Robert, 2, were fitted with bright green “turtle shell” backpacks containing Ping-Pong ball eggs and set out through a clever obstacle course called “It’s Tough to be A Turtle!” to see for themselves how difficult the life of a turtle can be, as they face people-created beach obstacles such as trash, chairs, holes.
As mom, Suzanne, watched, the kids crawled, wiggled and climbed, assisted by a volunteer, until, at last, they could deposit the “eggs” safely in the nest and return to the sea.
At the US Coast Guard Auxiliary tent, John Johnson was showing fascinated Eli Bradley, 6, how to properly tie a slipknot, as his mom, Audra, and golden lab, Hiccup, watched.
At the Vero Fossil Exhibit, people gazed at ancient bones and artifacts, trying to wrap their minds around the displays laid out before them, such as the bison jaw, dating to the late Pleistocene Epoch, 14,000 BCE.
Among the Arts and Crafts exhibits were paintings and photographs of local wildlife, stitchery, melodic mobiles from pieces of stained glass; wood carvings, plants, jewelry, sea beans, beads, soaps, honey, wood and much more, including a gorgeous hand-made wooden kayak by Mike Beck – the prize in the afternoon’s raffle.
