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The pink lady’s alipper is the "mascot" flower of the Huron County Nature Center. The annual festival is named for this lovely orchid.

Visitors to the Lady’s Slipper Festival at the Huron County Nature Center peruse the offerings of arts and crafts vendors set up along the trail system during the festival.

Visitors to the Lady’s Slipper Festival at the Huron County Nature Center peruse the offerings of arts and crafts vendors set up along the trail system during the festival.

Visitors to the Lady’s Slipper Festival at the Huron County Nature Center peruse the offerings of arts and crafts vendors set up along the trail system during the festival.

The pink lady’s alipper is the "mascot" flower of the Huron County Nature Center. The annual festival is named for this lovely orchid.

Visitors to the Huron County Nature Center are encouraged to visit the arts and crafts vendors along the trail system during the Lady’s Slipper Festival.

Visitors to the Huron County Nature Center are encouraged to visit the arts and crafts vendors along the trail system during the Lady’s Slipper Festival.

Visitors to the Lady’s Slipper Festival at the Huron County Nature Center peruse the offerings of arts and crafts vendors set up along the trail system during the festival.

Visitors to the Huron County Nature Center are encouraged to visit the arts and crafts vendors along the trail system during the Lady’s Slipper Festival.

This sign outlines the trail system at the Huron County Nature Center. Visitors are encouraged to walk the trails during the festival and count the lady’s slippers.

A view of the trail system at the Huron County Nature Center.

With the summer tourist season quickly approaching, area businesses and organizations are getting ready to provide services and entertainment to the community. The Huron County Nature Center, located at 3336 Loosemore Road, near Oak Beach, is among them. The traditional kick-off to its season is the Lady’s Slipper Festival.

The festival, in its 21st year, is named after the pink lady’s slipper.

“This one-day event is the center’s official spring opener,” said nature center board member Jim Warchall. “It is the start of our slate of summer programs, and most importantly, timed to coincide with the bloom of the pink lady’s slipper orchid in the park. While not threatened in Michigan, this orchid and mascot of the festival is protected and treasured in the nature center, where it finds the right soils and fungi that it needs to grow. Though there are many signs of spring in Michigan, this particular flower’s reemergence each year is welcomed and celebrated at the nature center.”

The festival bearing the orchid’s name takes place at the nature center on Sunday, May 29 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

“The event will be filled with music, food, arts and crafts, and an activity or two for the kids,” Warchall said. “The amphitheater will have live music most of the day; Greg Baunoch will be playing in the morning and Kenny Lang in the afternoon.”

New this year is the addition of the Farm 2 You food truck, offering visitors items such as soup of the day, crispy chicken wrap, chicken tenders, Italian panini sub, fries, onion rings, and mozzarella cheese sticks. The truck will be there throughout the day.

“Local artists, crafts people, and other vendors will have a variety of items for sale,” Warchall said. “And, returning as a traditional activity for young visitors will be the making of a tree cookie necklace to take home as a souvenir.”

Many improvements have been made to the climate controlled visitor’s center, which will be open for the festival.

Check out more photos by visiting www.michigansthumb.com.

“This year the nature center is showcasing two new exhibits inside the visitor’s center,” Warchall said. “The new apex predator exhibit will highlight the coyote and bobcat, and a new multimedia display concerning frogs and toads of Michigan, which includes a beautiful short film about tadpoles, plus interactive elements for children will be available to view.”

Another exhibit, this one outside the visitor’s center, will feature an "Air-Bee-and-Bee" display, which is a bee "hotel" providing native solitary bees with a nesting site. There is also interpretive signage explaining the workings of the Air-Bee-and-Bee.

As always, the trail system, including the new hiking and biking trails, will be open. Visitors are encouraged to walk the trails and count the lady’s slippers. These maintained trails are open to the public from dawn until dusk 365 days a year.

“The Huron County Nature Center is an all-volunteer run 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with a mission to protect our 280 acres of lovely Michigan forest, while making it available for the enjoyment of the public, “Warchall said. “The land, protected now for over 80 years, is a rare forested dune and wet swale complex, hosting abundant vernal pools, migratory birds, and a wide array of wildlife and plants. Our two trail systems, with a combined length of almost six miles, allow visitors to experience the wilderness all year long, in every season.”

For further information concerning the Lady’s Slipper Festival or the Huron County Nature Center, call 989-551-8400, visit www.huronnaturecenter.org, or follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HCnaturecenter.