By Miles Hilton
This Saturday and Sunday, July 27 and 28, the Panama Rocks park in Panama, New York will host its Wild America Nature Festival, two packed days of nature education and entertainment, artists and vendors, folk music, and natural beauty. This year, the park is introducing free admission to the artists and vendors area of the festival: visitors can explore the offerings of over fifty nature-themed small businesses and artists from the area free of charge, though there is a fee to enter the festival entertainment portion of the event, as well as the rock formations themselves.
Jonathan Weston, owner and manager of Panama Rocks, took over management of the park in 2014 from his parents, who had hosted many festivals in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Weston knew early in his tenure that he wanted to continue the tradition. “I came back to manage the park, and one of the most commonly asked questions I got from our guests was ‘are you going to do festivals again’”, he reminisces. “We thought about who we are as an organization and a park, and wanted to focus on nature and the outdoors,” which led to the founding of the Wild America Nature Festivals in 2017.
This year, visitors can expect a wide array of education, entertainment, and vendors. In addition to a juried nature-themed art and craft show, there will be a blacksmith, a variety of vendors working in mediums from woodworking to painting to jewelry, a falconry demonstration with American Hawkeye, wild animal demonstrations and education with Jungle Terry & Animal Friends, folk music, nature walks, yoga, hatchet throwing, prepared food, and foraging walks.
The Wild America Nature Festival aims to be both “very entertaining, and very educational” says Weston. “You learn a lot about conservation. You also learn why you maybe wouldn’t want a python as a pet, why if you wanted to get into falconry it’s a very serious thing.” Nature walks and talks on local birds, trees, wildflowers, and wild animal rehabilitation will be led by local experts, including Twan Leenders, Director of Conservation at the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy. The $5 parking lot fee (street parking is free), will benefit the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy as well.
All of this demonstrates Weston’s vision for the festival: “The mission of the event is to connect people with the nature around them. We as a society have become more and more dissociated form the natural world around us, and our hope is that whether its through the animals, exploring Panama Rocks, a walk and talk, or just appreciating art focused on nature that people not only have a great time and have fun but they also feel a deep connection to the natural world around them.”