A fun – not frightening – Halloween adventure;
Merry Lea offers alternative to holiday frights Oct. 28-29

WOLF LAKE, Ind. — Children and their parents can enjoy a different experience at Halloween that doesn’t include ghouls and goblins or cackles and screams.

At Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, they’ll be greeted by fascinating animals instead of frightening phantoms at Merry Lea’s Enchanted Forest – an increasingly popular non-scary alternative to haunted houses – from 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 28-29 at the Merry Lea Farmstead.

The child-friendly evenings – though the whole family will enjoy it – include a guided night hike to meet volunteers dressed in animal costumes, who talk about their “lives” and natural habitats. Young visitors might encounter a bear, owl, skunk, fox or butterfly while learning the secrets of the wild. The volunteers in animal costumes meet the visitors in a spot where such an animal might live. Children are encouraged to ask questions and engage in conversation with the disguised volunteer.

Volunteer Irene Miller plays the role of a skunk, an appropriate animal for her given that she keeps pet skunks. In fact, Miller often includes one of her live pets as part of her presentation. “Kids really get into it,” she said. “Most of the time the kids are really in awe – they think it’s really cool.”

Families will enjoy refreshments in the barn located at the Merry Lea Farmstead, along with a bonfire and live music. Providing family friendly musical entertainment will be prize-winning hammer dulcimer musician Les Gustafson-Zook on Oct. 28, and folk musicians Liza and Mark Woolever on Oct. 29.

Tickets are $2.50 per person, available at the barn. Groups of 10 or more should call ahead. If the weather is too cold or rainy, the program will be moved inside the buildings at the Farmstead. The Farmstead is located off U.S. 33 south of Wolf Lake, Ind., at the junction of S.R. 109 and C.R. 425 W.

Merry Lea, 300 S. 500 W. in Noble County south of Wolf Lake, is a natural sanctuary for northern Indiana’s plants and animals, provides environmental education for people of all ages and a setting to recreate opportunities that benefit the human body and spirit without exploiting the land. Merry Lea, created with the assistance of the Nature Conservancy and the generosity of Lee A. and Mary Jane Rieth, is owned and operated by Goshen College. For more information, log on to www.goshen.edu/merrylea or call (260) 799-5869.

Editors: For more information, contact Paul Steury at (260) 799-5869.

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