Festival of Forests a chance to 'fall in love' with the outdoors

The Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project is hosting their second annual Festival of Forests on Sunday.

The festival is taking place at the Macphail Woods Nature Centre from 2 to 6 p.m. in Orwell, P.E.I. 

Daniel McRae, a forester with the project, said their organization has a deep-seated interest in forestry on P.E.I.  

"We just finished up about seven weeks of our Sharing a Love of Nature Camp program, so we had roughly 130 kids come through this summer," he said.

The project has also visited many Island schools in its almost 30-year history and has taught students about planting trees in their community.

For the past three years, McRae said, they've been planting trees with Eliot River Elementary in Cornwall.

"It's amazing to see the skill level of these kids," he said.

'Fall in love with the forests'

The Festival of Forests is a fundraising event for the non-profit organization, and, McRae said, it's a chance for Islanders and their families to learn about and enjoy the outdoors.

"Our main thing is to get people to fall in love with the forests that are here on P.E.I. and in the Maritimes."

The festival will have games, arts and crafts and how-to's on knot tying, lighting fires, shelter building, bird calls and more.

There will also be a silent auction.

"Come out and grab a bit of food, hang out, learn a bit about the woods have a fun time and maybe bid on some kind of cool thing you want to take home," he said.

Admission is $10 per person or $25 for a family. All proceeds from admissions and a silent auction will go to further programs for the non-profit organization.

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