Wild Wednesdays!

Kentucky Recreation and Park Society's Outstanding Program of 2005!

May 5 ~ August 25 at Middleton-Mills Park

It's back and it's better than ever!

Discover the fascinating world of wildlife! Kentucky Recreation and Park Society's Outstanding Program of 2005 just keeps getting better and better! From May 5 to August 25, join us for our 11th season of Wild Wednesdays! presented by Toyota. The free programs are held ~ rain or shine ~ at Middleton-Mills Park in Shelterhouse 2, begin at 10:00 am, and last about an hour on each of the 16 dates.

Learn simple definitions for big words such as biodiversity, endangered, conservation, preservation, adaptation, ecosystem, indigenous, extinction, specialization, and interdependence.

Answer the call of the wild! See eye-to-eye with a Bald Eagle or Great-horned Owl when Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky or Raptor, Inc. comes to visit! Meet Farmer Frank and a variety of barnyard animals from Sunrock Farm! Encounter live Cincinnati Zoo creatures face-to-face! Mr. Cowpie's (that's right, I said ´Mr. Cowpie'!) Party Animals will musically amuse and entertain, and we'll have an equine program with Mr. Cowpie's wife, Farmer Joan featuring a miniature horse, a pony, and a donkey! Kentucky Down Under will visit with a ´roo or two! Ever seen an alpaca? We'll have a visit from Eagle Bend Alpacas! Michael Strohm and Howard McDaniel will ´become' John J. Audubon ~ that's right, THE John James Audubon from the 1850's ~ and his Shawnee friend Fishtrap or his traveling companion, George Lehman when they present Field Programs on Fowler Creek! Scott Braunstein will bring an interesting variety of your favorite creepy creatures from the House of Reptiles, LLC! And, hey, we've booked a guest we haven't had in awhile ~ Granville and Kayla Griffith are back with the Buzz about Appalachian Beekeeping! What a line-up!

Here is the schedule:

May 5, 9:30 am ~ Birds of Prey w/ Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky  (CG&M)

May 12, 9:30 am ~ Wildlife Comes To You w/ Cincinnati Zoo  (KCPL  STP&M)

May 19, 9:45 am ~ House of Reptiles, LLC  (UB)

May 26, 9:30 am ~ Barnyard Animals w/ Sunrock Farm  (KCPL/ARC  STP&M)

June 2, 9:30 am ~ KY Div. of Forestry and KC Forester  (NKHD/UB  DTA  STP&M)

June 9, 9:30 am ~ J.J. Audubon's Field Programs on Fowler Creek  (KCPL  STP&M)

June 16, 9:45 am ~ Mr. Cowpie's Party Animals  (UB  DTA)

June 23, 9:30 am ~ Farmer Frank & Sunrock Farm Barnyard Animals  (KCPL  STP&M)

June 30, 9:30 am ~ Snakes Alive! w/ House of Reptiles, LLC  (NKHD/UB  STP&M)

July 7 ~ NO PROGRAM ~ Enjoy the holiday week with family and friends!

July 14, 9:30 am ~ Skinks and ´Roos w/ Kentucky Down Under  (KCPL  DTA  STP&M)

July 21, 9:30 am ~ Farmer Joan's Equine Show  (KDF&WR  DTA)

July 28, 9:30 am ~ J.J. Audubon's Field Programs on Fowler Creek  (KCPL  STP&M)

August 4, 9:30 am ~ Appalachian Beekeeping Buzz w/ Granville & Kayla Griffith

August 11, 9:30 am ~ Eagle Bend Alpacas  (KCPL  STP&M)

August 18, 9:30 am ~ Raptors: Top of the Food Chain w/ Raptor, Inc.

August 25, 9:30 am ~ Big Bone Lick State Park  (KCPL  STP&M)

Arrive early for best seating! Be sure to check the calendar for start times, as they vary. Pre-programs begin at 9:30 or 9:45 am ~ depends on who's there! Where you see KCPL, pre-program stories (and songs!) will be provided by Laura Davies or Joel Caithamer from the Kenton County Public Library ~ Durr branch in Independence. Nancy Ann Wartman from Usborne Books will read us a story or two where you see UB. On May 26, Diana Wood from the American Red Cross (ARC) will present ´Wind around the Toybox', a 20-minute puppet show developed for grades K-2, in which children learn how to choose a tornado safe place. Marsha Bach from Northern Kentucky Health Department (NKHD) will visit, too, and her programs will begin at 9:30 am and will last either 15 or 30 minutes. On July 21, Kathryn Heyden, Avian Specialist from the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources (KDF&WR) will be attempting to net and band songbirds! Too cool!

Stay late! On a number of special dates, we'll give you even more to be excited about! Where you see DTA, Dominach's Taekwondo Academy will demonstrate how the practice of Taekwondo is something the whole family can enjoy by helping participants develop personal skills such as focus, self-confidence, and discipline! Where you see ´MOJO' (dates TBA), it means that Noah's Ark Stuffed Animal Workshop will be on hand following lunch to offer special workshops in which your child can make his or her own stuffed animal for a small fee, and there's a chance we'll have a visit from Mojo, the Monkey!

Free raffle! Hey, don't forget the free raffle of terrific donated prizes, including everyone's favorite: You know it; you love it ~ it's Beanie-of-the-Week! We are always in need of prizes in exchange for promotional consideration. We can use free tickets and passes, books, posters, puzzles, t-shirts, and plush animals. And be sure to check out the free resource table stocked with interesting and informative pamphlets and brochures!

And thinking about lunch… Who says, "There's no free lunch anymore"? Not us! Every other week beginning on May 12, our awesome Program Partner ~ Snappy Tomato Pizza of Independence ~ will once again provide free pizza for all WW visitors, and McDonalds will provide the drinks! Yum!

Heritage Bank and Ernie's Garage, Body Shop & Towing have stepped up to the plate (get it?) and will pick up the tab for Snappy Tomato Pizza lunches on June 2 and June 30! Yum! Yum!

And, Cherokee Grill will provide free lunch on May 5! Even more yum!

That leaves us with just 5 lunch dates that need filling and we'll have free lunch every week! Wanna put your name on one? Or two? It's $150 for one or $200 for two dates and you'll just write your check to Snappy Tomato. It's that easy! Or, if you would like to provide something else for lunch, that's OK, too. We're averaging right around 250 people each week. Give us a call so we can give you all the details and put on the food bag, er, fill in the remaining dates! Call Steve at KCP&R at (859) 525-PLAY (7529)! (See dates marked STP&M).

Directions to Middleton-Mills Park are easy! The address is 3415 Mills Rd., Covington, KY 41015. From I-275, take Covington/Taylor Mill exit (Exit 79), go south on KY16 seven miles to Mills Road, go east (turn left) on Mills Road, go one mile to park.

All you need is a sense of wonder ~ we'll take care of the rest! Go wild! Wild Wednesdays! Don't miss a single adventure!

Wild Wednesdays! is free to attend and enjoy. Instead of money, we collect donations of non-perishable food and personal care items for those less fortunate. Your kind donations have helped way more than you know. Let's keep giving! Please remember to bring a little something each week.

During the school year, it is not unusual to have a number of different schools represented each week, generally in the K-8 age groups, accompanied by their teachers and chaperones. But, it's not just schools and school-age children who are attending the programs. It's all ages ~ from babies to seniors!

After the program, after the raffle ~ take a hike. We mean it! Take a hike! Explore the mix of meadow and woods and hike the trails of Middleton-Mills Park. Here's a chance to ´Get back to Nature'. Bring a guidebook from the library and identify some of Kentucky's native trees and wildflowers. Discover the Northern Kentucky Bluebird Trail, a monitored series of nest boxes for cavity-nesting birds. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to observe Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, Chickadees, and Wrens and many other species in their natural habitats.

Or, explore the ecosystem of a pond. Examine the inhabitants of one of three ponds ~ from microorganisms found in pond water to the variety of plants, animals, and birds, which depend upon the ponds for life.

Or, go fishin'! Both the Shelterhouse Pond and the Long Pond at Middleton-Mills Park are enrolled in the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife FINS Program. That's Fishing In NeighborhoodS and it allows us to stock the ponds five times each year ~ twice with Rainbow Trout and three times with Channel Catfish and Bluegills! Check your KDF&WR regulations for daily limits!

Pssssst! Wanna get in on the promotional value of partnering with KCP&R to help bring Wild Wednesdays! to Kenton County parks? There is a colorful banner hung each week to help promote our partners and for companies that wish to donate $500 or more ~ in dollars or in-kind product ~ we will be happy to add your logo. For companies that cannot afford to help us with that figure but can afford to provide us with donated guest fees, lunches, or prize items, we will verbally promote your company each week and distribute any other promotional material for you on site.

Call Kenton County Recreation at (859) 525-PLAY (7529) to see how you can help ~ we are always in need of volunteers and funding sponsors for our programs!

For news of upcoming programs, activities, and events to be held in Kenton County's parks, call the Parks & Recreation office at (859) 525-PLAY (7529). Ask about signing up for a once-a-week e-mail update of What's Happening in Kenton County's parks.