The Walk, Homewood Science Center’s annual nature fest and fundraiser, was held at Isaac Walton Nature Preserve on Sunday, Oct. 22, according to Homewood Science Center Executive Director Edie Dobrez. Approximately 320 area residents attended Walton.
“This is a way to bring your family to enjoy the beautiful Isaac Walton Preserve while also learning about the natural world,” Dobrez said, explaining Walk Walton’s mission.
Dobrez said a big part of the event is for Homewood Science Center middle school conservation ecology interns to share what they’ve learned with the community. She said she has done this on tours and outreach tables at the preserve. Conservation ecology interns demonstrated how to build the birdhouses they learned how to make at the science center.
At the end of the event, each conservation ecology intern was awarded a certificate for completing the program.
New to this year’s event was a traveling exhibit on Illinois’ natural resources by the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. The exhibit was housed inside a trailer truck, with numerous photos of snakes, birds, snails, and other Illinois wildlife displayed on the outside.
INHS is a research team that describes itself as “the guardian and recorder of Illinois’ biological resources.”
Traveling exhibits included, but were not limited to, exhibits on Illinois’ endangered species, grasslands, wetlands, and various ecological issues and programs.
“It was really exciting. We had a 320-square-foot exhibit on Isaac Walton’s property,” Dobrez said.
Scientists from the University of Illinois also participated in the event. We held out insects for both adults and children to touch. The Cook County Forest Preserve showed the turtles to local residents. The children decorated jack-o-lanterns. Professor Kathy Pfister from the University of Chicago gave a presentation highlighting local fish.
Walk Walton has been an annual event since 2016, the same year Homewood Science Center was founded. This event has always been held on a Sunday in the fall.
“When we started the science center, we realized that we didn’t want to limit our programs to just buildings. We know that science exists everywhere, and we wanted to learn about our natural world. One of the best ways to do this is to get out into nature,” Dobrez said, adding that Isaac Walton is “focused on all the ecosystems in Illinois.” “It’s a wonderful place,” he added.
Dobrez clarified that Walk Walton is not the only program that takes place outside the Homewood Science Center building. This includes events at schools and the Homewood Public Library.
“We’re happy to host people like them, nonprofits with similar interests: science. nature. conservation,” said Homewood Isaac Walton President John Brinkman.
Brinkman said he was managing the Isaac Walton office at the time of the event and watched from his window as conservation ecology interns were building nest boxes.
Next year’s Walk Walton will be held on Oct. 20, Dobrez said.