Duck,Duck,Goose Day
Taken at BREC's Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center
948 visitors, collectors, carvers, and volunteers were in attendance this year!
Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center, a 103-acre urban nature park in Baton Rouge, is home to the Charles W. Frank, Jr. Decoy Heritage Room which houses a significant number of vintage decoys donated by Mr. Frank.
Funds collected from waterfowl hunting are significant in the preservation and management of habitat critical not only to waterfowl, but also to non-game birds and other wildlife species.
Waterfowl decoy carving is an American tradition; in the South, hundreds of families of carvers have passed down their craft to new generations of carvers (and today, collectors). Duck, Duck, Goose Day celebrates the craftsmanship and the beauty of this unique part of Louisiana's heritage.
948 visitors, collectors, carvers, and volunteers were in attendance this year!
Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center, a 103-acre urban nature park in Baton Rouge, is home to the Charles W. Frank, Jr. Decoy Heritage Room which houses a significant number of vintage decoys donated by Mr. Frank.
Funds collected from waterfowl hunting are significant in the preservation and management of habitat critical not only to waterfowl, but also to non-game birds and other wildlife species.
Waterfowl decoy carving is an American tradition; in the South, hundreds of families of carvers have passed down their craft to new generations of carvers (and today, collectors). Duck, Duck, Goose Day celebrates the craftsmanship and the beauty of this unique part of Louisiana's heritage.
Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center, a 103-acre urban nature park in Baton Rouge, is home to the Charles W. Frank, Jr. Decoy Heritage Room which houses a significant number of vintage decoys donated by Mr. Frank.
Happy door prize winner
This year's event was dedicated to Louisiana's Creole Carvers. Collectors and carvers were encouraged to bring their vintage Creole decoys for viewing in our large display case.
Visitors and exhibitors enjoyed many items for sale by our food and snowball vendors.
In the duck craft corner, visitors could pick out a plastic duck and color it however they wanted. We saw little mallards, little wood ducks, and lots of bright, one-of-a-kind ducks!
Sweet!
In the duck craft corner, visitors could pick out a plastic duck and color it however they wanted. We saw little mallards, little wood ducks, and lots of bright, one-of-a-kind ducks!
Nice duck calls!
Funds collected from waterfowl hunting are significant in the preservation and management of habitat critical not only to waterfowl, but also to non-game birds and other wildlife species.
Little event attendees were able to punch out a "rough out" duck and then the PWC volunteers showed them how to carve the edges down and make their ducks come to life!
In the duck craft corner, visitors could pick out a plastic duck and color it however they wanted. We saw little mallards, little wood ducks, and lots of bright, one-of-a-kind ducks!
Decoys (and other wood carvings) were as far as the eye could see in the nature center's exhibit building.
Photo by Elizabeth Pendarvis - great shot!
As unique as the traditions of the decoy carvers are, carving families were also known to produce recognizably unique paddles.
Decoys of Coot - cute!
Cutout ducks & geese were placed in areas along the main walking loop. Taking the Waterfowl Walk, visitors were challenged to properly identify and count up all of the birds they spotted. Participation was rewarded with additional prize booth tickets and waterfowl identification posters donated by Ducks Unlimited. Thanks, DU!
By the event's end, all of our coveted door prizes were gone. Happy, happy, happy!
In honor of the Creole Carvers...
BSNC staff prepared for weeks to get all of their ducks in a row for this year's event.
Our youngest event attendees had fun looking over the multitude of decoys - and the snakes housed all around the nature center.
Representatives from Ducks Unlimited were on site to sign up youth to their Green Wing Program for free. It wasn't hard to lure them in with free duck calls! Thanks, DU!
Little Duck Nest raider - so cute!
You should see the size of the ducks in Louisiana !!!!!
At BREC's Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center.
Testing out his snake decoy...
There was a nice selection of door prizes - items of all shapes and sizes.
Little event attendees were able to punch out a "rough out" duck and then the PWC volunteers showed them how to carve the edges down and make their ducks come to life!
At BREC's Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center.
Live mallard ducklings!
At our Duck Pond, children traded tickets for turns to select ducks in the pool that corresponded to prize boxes. They had a huge selection of items to choose from. Everyone's a winner!
In honor of the Creole Carvers...
Happy door prize winner
Miss National Sweetheart 2014, Wendy Martin, welcomed guests sporting her crown - and camouflage! Thanks for attending, Wendy!
In the duck craft corner, visitors could pick out a plastic duck and color it however they wanted. We saw little mallards, little wood ducks, and lots of bright, one-of-a-kind ducks!
In honor of the Creole Carvers...
Cutout ducks & geese were placed in areas along the main walking loop. Taking the Waterfowl Walk, visitors were challenged to properly identify and count up all of the birds they spotted. Participation was rewarded with additional prize booth tickets and waterfowl identification posters donated by Ducks Unlimited. Thanks, DU!
Happy door prize winner.
New for this year - LIVE DUCKS! (Need we say more? They were a huge hit!)
Face painting.
Little event attendees were able to punch out a "rough out" duck and then the PWC volunteers showed them how to carve the edges down and make their ducks come to life!
While decoys were originally carved as common, utilitarian objects, today there are many carvers creating highly-coveted works of art.
Get your duck face on at the face-painting booth!
Visitors to Duck, Duck, Goose Day were encouraged to check in with our door prize department frequently to see if their number was up. There were dozens of happy recipients!
Thank you, volunteers, for helping us entertain our littlest duck lovers!
Swamp Manager, Claire Coco, enjoyed meeting Laurent Verdin, Jr., whose family's carvings hold a special place in her heart.
Live mallard ducklings - PEEP!
Everyone <3s ducklings!
This little visitor brought her favorite duck doll along to the event.
Mr. Gary Lipham, event co-coordinator, set up this lovely display of miniature decoys. Several collectors added to this display, too, for viewing during event day.
Face painting.
In between petting sessions, the ducklings enjoyed a safe, shady retreat complete with hay and a nice little "pond" to swim in and cool off.
As visitors arrive, they were able to view several antique boats used long ago to navigate the narrow bayous and marsh ways of Louisiana.
The Duck Box mimicked a Wood Duck nest box with little ducklings jumping about inside and out. The Duck Nest was a HUGE duck nest of hay (complete with 10 giant duck eggs!) hiding fun prizes for children. It was a popular spot all day!
Some of the decorative carvings were quite unusual!
Our newly expanded Duck, Duck, Goose Day would not have been possible without the dedication of all of our event volunteers. Volunteers stationed all of our outdoor children's activity booths, assisted in parking lot maneuvers, and provided extra hands to manage other key components. THANK YOU QUACKIN' VOLUNTEERS!
The little mallard ducklings were fun for everyone.
Happy door prize winner
The Pelican Woodcarvers set up a wonderful soap-carving station to help teach folks how much fun it is to carve. Of course, soap is much easier to carve than wood, but it is a starting point. Little event attendees were able to punch out a "rough out" duck and then the PWC volunteers showed them how to carve the edges down and make their ducks come to life!
New for this year - LIVE DUCKS! (Need we say more? They were a huge hit!)
Many of the prizes at the children's activity booths were noise makers, but none so popular as these duck-billed quackers!
Waterfowl decoy carving is an American tradition; in the South, hundreds of families of carvers have passed down their craft to new generations of carvers (and today, collectors). Duck, Duck, Goose Day celebrates the craftsmanship and the beauty of this unique part of Louisiana's heritage.
In honor of the Creole Carvers...
These baby mallards had a long, rough day being wrangled and petted by dozens of little Duck Day attendees. They held up just fine.
In honor of the Creole Carvers...
In addition to vintage decoys and hand-carved duck calls, there was no shortage of other hand-made wooden items including spoons, paddles, and bookmarks.
At our inaugural event in August 2012, BSNC received a wonderful donation from Brian Cheramie through the Wildfowl Carvers & Collectors Guild to support the growth of this event. The added children's activities in 2013 were made possible by this generous contribution. Thank you Mr. Cheramie & the WCCG! — at BREC's Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center.
BREC is the Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge. BREC's mission is to provide quality parks and recreational opportunities for all residents of East Baton Rouge Parish. Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center is one of many special facilities offering quality programming in EBRP. For more information, visit www.brec.org
Don't miss our 3rd annual Duck, Duck, Goose Day in August 2014. See you next year! — at BREC's Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center.
