Some years I have ideas for next year’s festival before this year’s festival has even happened. Some years I work hard to wait a whole month before I tell anyone my plans because I don’t want to seem too insane. This year was different. The plan came together slowly piece by piece.
First I had to test the company (which is based in Latvia) and see if they were any good. Then I had to see if I could get someone to design the image for me and then when no one did I slowly and painfully pulled one together that I’m deeply proud of. Then tried to get in touch with the company so I could be sure it would work. Then when I couldn’t reach anyone I figured how to print in layers instead of a single image so I could be sure it would work.
Last night these arrived from Latvia and I was completely gobsmacked.
There are nine pieces in all and a puzzle frame that kids will receive at the start of the activity. Each piece has animal on it that they will collect from an exhibit at the festival. For example they might collect the otter piece from the otter exhibit and the heron piece from Audubon, then go to a separate booth to lay in all the pieces and bring it back to me completed. Then they can take the puzzle with them to remember and show others.
The pieces are well printed and fit together perfectly. They are solid feeling and not too thin. The idea for the wetland image was inspired by another piece of course without a beaver. And the beaver image was drawn by our own Amelia Hunter for a festival long ago.
And the language of “Beavers building neighborhoods” comes from my earliest days of trying to show children and adults why our beavers mattered. We had one special poster that had an otter and a muskrat and heron and a mink on it. And I would ask kids if they knew what they each were and then say beavers built the neighborhood and everything else moved in.
A simple communication of the ecosystem engineer concept. I’m actually pretty proud of that.
