Music, arts, crafts and nature trails. A day fun for the entire family!

Since 2001, the Huron County Nature Center’s annual ‘Lady’s Slipper Festival’ has been held during Memorial Day weekend. This one-day event is the center’s official spring opener, the start of our slate of summer programs and, most importantly, timed to coincide with the bloom of the Pink Lady’s Slipper orchid in the park. While not threatened in Michigan, this orchid and mascot of the festival is protected and treasured in the nature center, where it finds the right soils and fungi that it needs to grow. Though there are many signs of spring in Michigan, this particular flower’s reemergence each year is welcomed and celebrated at the nature center.
This year’s festival on Sunday, May 28 is from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will be filled with music, food, arts and crafts, and an activity or two for the kids. The amphitheater will have live music during the day. The “Holy Guacamole” food truck will be at the festival, serving up fresh and delicious authentic Mexican food. Local artists, craftspeople, and other vendors will have a variety of items for sale as well. And, continuing what has become a tradition for so many repeat visitors to the festival, we’ll have a tree-cookie necklace-making station for the kids.
The Visitor’s Center, located at 3336 Loosemore Road, east of Oak Beach Road, in the tip of
Michigan’s Thumb, will be open the day of the festival. See our interactive vernal pool display, learn about native birds and the migratory habits of tadpoles, take a look at the wildlife area with bird feeders and our new waterfall feature. Finally, don’t forget to walk the trails and look for the flower that adorns the Nature Center’s logo, the Pink Lady’s Slipper orchid.
The Huron County Nature Center is an all-volunteer run 501c3 nonprofit, with a mission to
protect our 280 acres of lovely Michigan forest while making it available for the enjoyment of the public. The land, protected now for over 80 years, is a rare forested dune and wet swale complex, hosting abundant vernal pools, migratory birds, and a wide array of wildlife and plants. Two trail systems with a combined length of almost six miles allow visitors to experience the wilderness all year long, in every season.