Saturday was a fun and educational experience for Suffolk residents as locals came to visit the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge’s 50th Anniversary Festival.
Held at Jericho Lane Trailhead on Saturday, Sept. 21, the festival provided plenty of engaging and family friendly activities such as scavenger hunts, arts and crafts, archery, live animals and more. During the event, Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge Manager Chris Lowie says that the turnout exceeded his expectations.
“Thanks to the partners that are all providing information, kids activities, the performances about the history of the Dismal Swamp, and people are still coming. Here it is, 1:30 p.m., and people are still coming,” Lowie said. “I am just ecstatic and overwhelmed, it’s like I just won the Superbowl and I am going to Disney World!”
Lowie discussed the educational programs, noting two performances, a play titled ‘A Place of Our Own’ and a dance demonstration from the Nansemond Indian Tribe.
“Really a theater performance with actual actors at our Education Pavilion that are [performing] a story of Freedom Seekers that came through the swamp to escape slavery and build a life for themselves,” Lowie described. “Also the Nansemond Indian Tribe is doing [a] performance with celebratory dances and doing some education [for] the public about their tribal culture. And then we have some educational presentations about 50 years of refuge management and the wildlife of the refuge.”