MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — The West Virginia Botanic Garden held its13th annual Fall Children’s Festival on Sunday. Members of the garden were invited to the event one hour early to enjoy it themselves, and then the event was open to the public from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
A large part of the festival was nature crafts. Some activities include pumpkin painting, leaf printing and fairy house making at the Fairy Garden. There was a face painting station for kids by the arts and crafts table.
West Virginia Botanic Garden Education Director Erin Smaldone said the goal was to give families an opportunity to come out and enjoy themselves while raising awareness amongst the community about the West Virginia Botanic Garden.
“So a big part of what we do at the botanic garden is try to get people out enjoying nature, so we know these days a lot of kids are inside on their video games, and they’re not always out in the yard playing like we used to when we were kids, so this is a good way to get them out, teach them how fun it can be to be outside, playing with natural materials, enjoying the fresh air. There’s so many health benefits to just spending time outdoors, physically, emotionally, mentally, and so we just want to get the kids out here, enjoying the natural elements, and enjoying everything the state of West Virginia has to offer in terms of the beautiful nature that we have here,” Smaldone said.
Smaldone said that education is the main part of what they do at the garden, but for the festival, it was just about getting families out to enjoy nature.
The Weldon Family Foundation was the 2022 event sponsor for the festival. Aster Sponsors, Bob and Debra Cyphert, Cheat Lake Animal Hospital, Mon Health and WVU School of Dentistry also sponsored the event.
Click here to see more upcoming events at the garden.