The Crawford Park District is offering the following programs:
Artifact Hunt
Saturday, March 30, at 10 a.m. at Lowe-Volk Park, 2401 State Route 598.
The Crawford Park District invites you to join other artifact collectors to walk nearby farm fields looking for remnants of prehistoric people who inhabited Crawford County. Be the first human to touch an artifact since it was used thousands of years ago! Don’t miss this popular annual event. Bring the whole family, dress for the weather, and don’t forget your boots if the ground is wet. Lowe-Volk Park is located 3 miles north of U.S. Route 30. For more information on other programs offered by the Crawford Park District, visit www.crawfordpd.org.
Viewing the Night Sky
Saturday, March 30, at 8:30 p.m. at Lowe-Volk Park.
Join members of the Crawford Park Astronomy Club as they share their knowledge and telescope skills with all who are interested in celestial sights. Some of the targets Spring are:
Beehive Cluster (M44) – also known as
Praesepe, an open cluster of about 1,000 stars, about 600 million years old, 550 light-years away, and found in the constellation Cancer.
Betelgeuse – a giant red carbon star or red supergiant, 700 light-years away, about 10 million years old, 600 times the size of our sun, and when viewed from earth, it is the left shoulder of Orion.
Crab Nebula (M1) – an expanding remnant of a star’s supernova explosion, 6,500 light-years away, found in Taurus, about 10 light-years wide (which equals about 10 trillion miles), and is still growing at over 600 miles per second.
M65 – an intermediate spiral galaxy under the belly of Leo the Lion, 35 million light-years away, and part of the Leo Triplet.
M66 – another spiral galaxy found below Leo, 35 million light-years away, part of the Leo Triplet, and in 1780, it was discovered the same night as M65 by Charles Messier.
Orion Nebula (M42) – a beautiful, large, local nebula, only 1,300 light-years away, (yes, that is local in astronomical terms), about 2 million years old, and is the middle star of Orion’s sword.
Polaris – the North Star, the 48th brightest star in the sky, always visible, and the end of the Little Dipper’s handle.
Sirius – found in Canis Major, the brightest star in our sky, also called the Dog Star, and it follows Orion the Hunter.
There are a lot of other objects to view. What we see will depend on what the clouds are doing.
Spring Break Open House
Monday, April 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Lowe-Volk Park.
Looking for something to do with your kids while school is closed for Spring Break? The Crawford Park District invites you to bring them out to the Lowe-Volk Park Nature Center. Naturalists will be available to bring out animals (including the AXOLOTLS!) and to answer questions. Kids will be able to touch and hold the animals. Our indoor treehouse and interactive kids’ area is the perfect place to enjoy the day off school!
Little Explorers: Plants
Tuesday, April 2, at 5 p.m. at Lowe-Volk Park.
Little Explorers is an interactive program offered by the Crawford Park District for young children, ages 0-5. Activities focus on stimulating infants’ senses and developing toddlers’ and preschoolers’ fine motor skills. This month we’ll be outside exploring green growing plants!
Goodnight Sun: What Nature Does During a Total Eclipse
Wednesday, April 3, at 6 p.m. (virtual)
The total eclipse next week will make the sky look like nighttime in the middle of the day! Join the Crawford Park District staff to find out how wild animals (and plants!) behave during eclipses. Visit our website at crawfordpd.org or call the Crawford Park District office at 419-683-9000 to register and receive a Zoom link. For more information on other programs offered by the Crawford Park District, visit our web site at www.crawfordpd.org or follow us on Facebook.
Find a Rainbow Day
Wednesday, April 3, at 5:30 p.m. at Lowe-Volk Park.
It’s National Find a Rainbow Day and National Walking Day—two perfect reasons to come out and look for rainbows while taking a walk through the park. The Crawford Park District invites you to come and learn about how rainbows are made and have an opportunity to make some too!
Homeschool in Nature: Riddles
Thursday, April 4, at 10 a.m. & 2 p.m. at Lowe-Volk Park.
The Crawford Park District Homeschoolers are wrapping up this school year by going on a hunt… a hunt to solve a riddle! Our clues will lead us throughout the park. Call the Crawford Park District at 419-683-9000 to register your 5 to 12-year-old.
Submitted by the Crawford Park District.
