Tamarac Fall Festival
2016-10-01 15:00 - 20:00 UTC | At the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge North of Rochert near the intersection of Becker County Highway 26 and 29
There will be activities at the Discovery Center, Visitor Center, and the historic cabin site.

The Friends sponsor the annual festival, which showcases the beauty of Tamarac and offers a plethora of fun and educational activities for the whole family.

"This year's theme is 'The Duck Stops Here,'" says Braun, noting that the name is a riff on the fact that the 2016 federal "duck stamp" as the U.S. Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp is most commonly known doesn't actually feature a duck, but a trumpeter swan.

Nevertheless, ducks in all their glory are the focus of many activities at this year's fall festival, where there will be duck calling, duck carving and duck banding demonstrations; a duck identification contest; a (self-guided) Duck Stamp Trail hike and a "Duckumentary" film screening, just to name a few.

"Families can also take the Duck Stamp Challenge," Braun said, noting that a variety of educational activity stations will be set up at all three festival sites for families to go, learn more about ducks and other wildlife that make their home on the Refuge, and get their registration card filled with duck stamps; those who get their cards filled will be eligible for a prize to take home as a souvenir.

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., though an "early bird" Refuge tour departs from the historic cabin site at 9 a.m., with additional tours set to leave at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Each tour lasts approximately 90 minutes.

There will be Duck Banding Rocket Net Blasts at 10 a.m., 12:30 and 2:30 p.m., as well as a "Saving Wetlands" puppet show at 10:30 a.m. and 12 noon, featuring puppeteers Janet Bridgers and Rick Pechmann; and duck calling demonstrations by Casey Bachmann at 11:30 am. and 1:30 p.m. All of these take place at the historic cabin site; there will also be a screening of the movie "Duckumentary" at the Visitor's Center theater at 2 p.m.

Inside the Visitor Center, there will be a wild rice soup tasting station, while back over at the cabin site, volunteers will be serving up lunch items including brats, chips, cookies and beverages.

Outside the historic cabins themselves, staff and volunteers from the Becker County Historical Society will share information about early settlers and showcase vintage U.S. postage stamps.

Over at the Discovery Center, there will be displays featuring entries in the 2016 Tamarac Photo Contest as well as demonstrations by duck carving artist Red Spadgenske, who will be hard at work creating one of his beautiful wildlife sculptures.

For those who like to connect more directly with nature, the Duck Stamp Trail will take visitors to a scenic marsh overlook (time is approximately 30 minutes), while the new Bear Paw Trail will allow them to explore a more wooded path to and from the Visitor Center.

Best of all, this family friendly festival won't put a drain on your finances.

"Except for the lunch, everything is free," Braun said.
