The Nature Conservancy of Illinois Hosts Awe of Nature Festival In South Suburbs

The Nature Conservancy recently hosted the first Awe of Nature Festival at Midlothian Meadows. The purpose of the festival was to encourage residents of Chicago’s Southland to think about the role that nature plays in their communities and their lives. Photo Credit: Joshua Lott Photography / The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy recently hosted the first Awe of Nature Festival at Midlothian Meadows. The purpose of the festival was to encourage residents of Chicago’s Southland to think about the role that nature plays in their communities and their lives. Photo Credit: Joshua Lott Photography / The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy of Illinois Hosts Awe of Nature Festival In South Suburbs

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Nature Conservancy in partnership with the Cook County Forest Preserves and The City of

Markham recently hosted the first Awe of Nature Festival at the Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve located on 15440 S. Pulaski Rd. The goal of the festival was to connect visitors to nature and showcase the Illinois Prairies.

“I learned that the community is not necessarily aware or aware and not connected to the prairies. And so, my sense of nature and learning about the prairies was ignited even more in the terms of what the prairies are and what they do and it’s connection to nature as a whole which I find to be phenomenal. I mean there’s so much in nature that’s awesome,” said Debra Williams, community outreach coordinator for The Nature Conservancy.

The Awe of Nature Festival featured outdoor activities that celebrated nature and the environment through music, arts and crafts, bike and pony rides, performances from hip-hop dancers and gymnastic tumblers, archery, and food vendors.

“In my years of working with the Indian Boundary Prairie, the Awe of Nature Festival was one of the best bridge experiences and segue to reintroducing the City of Markham and the surrounding communities to nature. The partnership between the Cook County Forest Preserve,

The Nature Conservancy and the City of Markham was a new beginning to help us learn and understand more about the importance and excitement of nature as though it were a new culture. Debra Williams as the Community Outreach Coordinator for The Nature Conservancy and Indian Boundary Prairie has been diligent in her work as she helps people understand and speak the language of nature by “connecting people to people and people to nature,” said Roger Agpawa, mayor of Markham City.

The idea of an Awe of Nature Festival was presented as a way to expose Southland residents to the many ways that nature exists in their communities and to showcase The City of Markham which is known as the prairie capital of Illinois.

“There’s so much in nature that’s awesome and just thinking about raising the level of interest in nature is how the Awe of Nature Festival came to be. Of course, we wanted to be connected with the prairies but I also wanted to broaden the scope because nature is everywhere. Nature

is not just the prairies. Nature is outside your doors, nature is when you walk outside of your house to look at the sky,” said Williams.

The Nature Conservancy, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is a global nonprofit organization focused on environmental activism and preservation. Since 1951, The Nature Conservancy has worked to protect the lands and waters on which all life depends, according to The Nature Conservancy’s website.

Midlothian Meadows is part of the Cook County Forest Preserves and is a place to gather and engage in outdoor recreational activities, according to the press release announcing the Awe of Nature Festival.

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