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Meadowlark Nature Festival reveals featured artwork ‘One Moon’

The watercolour painting by Alex Fong is the festival’s logo for this year
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Meadowlark Nature Festival’s featured artist for 2019 Alex Fong with his artwork ‘One Moon’. The watercolour image will be the festival’s logo for this year, included on tee shirts and other swag for sale, with the original being raffled off to support the festival. (Jordyn Thomson - Western News)

The 22nd annual Meadowlark Nature Festival launched on April 4 with unveiling featured artist Alex Fong’s piece for the festival, ‘One Moon’.

The watercolour painting was revealed as the festival’s logo this year at the Penticton Museum & Archives during the launch event. The festival is set to run from May 16 to 20. The image will be featured on festival tee shirts and other swag for sale and the original will be included in a raffle to support the festival.

“Alex Fong is just an incredible artist, he does very whimsical and fun pieces. So it’s his version of a meadowlark scene,” said Jayme Friedt, festival coordinator.

“I do a lot for charity and I love to paint nature so being the featured artist for Meadowlark is kind of a natural fit for me,” said Fong. “I’ve been painting for 40 years, and I paint nature because I try to get people to love nature as much as I do.

“I paint a lot of birds, so it was an easy transition for me. The image they chose was one howling in the moonlight with the lake. The most important part of my living here is the lake so I just needed a beautiful setting.”

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Friedt also discussed some of the 70 tours and activities that will be part of the festival this year. She noted some fan favourites that are returning as well as new partners and what they will be offering.

“Every year we have a great selection of returning tours, or perennial favourites as I like to call them, so we have owl tours and bat tours and things like that. But we also try and get a selection of new stuff happening every year,” said Friedt. “For example, this year we’re very happy to be working with Hoodoo Adventures who just bought the Chute Lake Lodge, so they’re going to tie in with Richard Cannings cycling tour with a breakfast. And they’re also going to do a kayaking tour to Rattlesnake Island so that will be very cool.”

People with varying abilities can take part in the festival, and choose which activity best suits them based on the difficulty ratings of zero to four, with four being the hardest. Friedt said there are a few indoor activities this year as well.

“That’s one of the things that’s really attractive about the festival, there’s such a diverse array of things people can take part in,” said Friedt. “There’s difference interest areas like biology or geology or ecology or insects or all sorts of different types of events. Like canoeing, cycling and horseback riding. And our difficulty levels range from zero to four, so there are some events that are at a zero so they might be an indoor event, or there might be something like a serious hike that’s ranked a four.”

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There will also be a dinner and auction fundraiser to support the festival on May 17 at the Penticton Golf and Country Club. Birders, Burgers and Beer kicks off from 5 to 7 p.m. and features a delicious meal and drink and entertainment by Ari Neufeld. Bryn White will also be honoured with the Outstanding in Nature Award that evening for her contributions in the environmental industry.

Tickets for the festival go on sale beginning April 6 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at www.meadowlarkfestival.ca. In addition, tickets can be purchased in person from 10 a.m. to noon at the Penticton Community Centre in Room Two.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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Jordyn Thomson | Reporter
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