Cloud Spotter, Water Bead Bracelet or Riverfest Headband – make them with friends at the library or take the materials home.

Cloud Spotter, Water Bead Bracelet or Riverfest Headband – make them with friends at the library or take the materials home.
Join us at Carpenter Nature Center’s WI Campus for a morning of family fun. Visitors can meet some of CNC’s live animal ambassadors, make a craft, coloring pages, nature scavenger hunt and take a hike. Free for all ages, indoor and outdoor activities.
Join Carpenter Nature Center for an Animals of the St. Croix presentation featuring some of CNC’s live animal ambassadors! Get up close and personal with some of the amazing critters that call the St. Croix River Valley home.
Vehicle admission into the park is required. All outdoor events are weather dependent. For more information email: naturecenter@willowkinnifriends.org.
The FREE St. Croix Valley Community Band Concert is a popular RiverFest event. Celebrating community and the scenic St. Croix River with something for people of all ages. You won’t want to miss this fun-filled family evening! Families are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket or lawn chairs and settle in to enjoy the show.
The RiverFest theme song will be played for a sing-along. View the lyrics to the RiverFest, It’s the Best! song.
See the RiverFest mascot Scrappy on display! Created by sculptor Mary Johnson, the splashing bass figure is metal armature. Each year students from the Phipps Center for the Arts “Just Add Water” art and science class help complete the sculpture by processing and re-purposing the litter collected in Hudson during the river cleanup to create a new “skin” for Scrappy.
The public and Rotarians are invited to a free discussion by Angie Hong on the subject of the state of the watershed, following regular meeting of Hudson Daybreak Rotary.
Speaker Angie Hong, Water Education Specialist, Minnesota Washington Conservation District will discuss the St. Croix River watershed, of nearly 8,000 square miles and includes dozens of tributary streams and hundreds of lakes. Where are we making good progress to protect and restore water quality, and what challenges are coming in the future.
Please use the “Pervious Events” link at the the bottom (left) of the page to view the 2024 past events.
Join Miss Sara and Miss Annie, from the Hudson Area Public Library for a special RiverFest storytime!
Cloud Spotter, Water Bead Bracelet or Riverfest Headband – make them with friends at the library or take the materials home.
Bioblitz programs and hikes begin at 3pm on Friday, July 21 and continue on Saturday, July 22, ending at noon.
Visitors can sign up to learn about moths, birds and other plants and animals found at Carpenter Nature Center’s Wisconsin Campus. Learn from bird, invertebrate, reptile, amphibian, and plant experts in a fun day of citizen science. Come to the Wisconsin Campus and join inventory teams in restored prairies, riparian habitats, and wooded bluff lands to discover and document plant and animal species. All ages are welcome at this FREE program.
Surveyors will hike the woods, prairies and oak savannahs of CNC’s Wisconsin Campus and report their findings to our Bioblitz HQ at the Al & Laurie Hein Visitor Center at 279 S. Cove Road, Hudson.
To sign up for a specific program or hike register by calling Jen at 651-437-4359 (ext. 108) or Abbey at 651-437-4359 (ext. 118).
Plans are underway but here is a peek some of the programs:
Saturday at 4:45am: “OMG it’s Early Bird Survey” with Ben Douglas
The team will get up before civil sunrise (at a very un-civilized time) to survey birds.
Saturday at 10am: Bumblebee Survey with Chris Smith
Planning for additional programs (including plant surveys) is underway. Please check back later for more details or visit Carpenter Nature Center’s website.
Did you miss the “Indigenous Scars: Wisconsin Massacre & Boarding Schools” presentation?
You can watch a video of the program on YouTube.
Thank you to the River Channel for recording and sharing this video.
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This program was presented on July 22, 2023.
Speakers Kevin and Patsy Alderson talk about the Bad Axe Massacre and the Wisconsin Boarding School at Tomah
Kirby Metoxen shares the story of the reinterment of Oneida children returned from Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania
Taste the Native influenced bites and beverages with indigenous inspired appetizers by chef Carey Castner. Learn more about Carey at Tailored Table.
This program addresses serious subjects and is recommended for teens and adult audience.
View this suggested video to provide background information about the Bad Axe Massacre: Battle of Bad Axe by Jim Jorstad
An educational video which traces the history and aftermath of the 1832 Battle at Bad Axe