Schedule of Interpretive Events for June 2009

Date: May 26, 2009
Contact: Howard Duncan, 423.569.9778

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area will host a series of day and evening programs for the public beginning Memorial Day weekend and continuing throughout the summer.  Park rangers and volunteers will present a wide variety of program topics at Bandy Creek Visitor Center, Bandy Creek Campground, Blue Heron Mining Community and Blue Heron Campground.  Evening programs typically are about one hour. 

For more information please call either Bandy Creek Visitor Center at [phone] or the Kentucky Visitor Center at Stearns [phone].  All programs are on Eastern Time.

Program schedule for June, 2009 

Saturday, June 6, 2009 - 10:30 AM – Bandy Creek Visitor Center - Hooked Again - Attention all anglers young and old!  June 6, 2009 is free fishing day.  Residents and non-residents of Tennessee can fish without a license.  In honor of this day, join Ranger Dustin Beaty at 10:30 am at the Bandy Creek Visitor Center.  After a short presentation we will go fishing at a nearby pond.  So bring your fishing poles and tackle.  Worms will be provided.  Hope to see you at the water’s edge.

Saturday, June 6, 2009 – 7:00 p.m. old Bandy Creek camp store (across the walkway from the Visitor Center)– A Beaver Tale - Park Ranger Brenda Deaver will be presenting an informative talk on these large rodents that inhabit the Big South Fork.  The beaver is an industrious creature well known for its tree chewing and dam building activities.  Join Ranger Deaver to learn more about these interesting creatures.

Saturday, June 6, 2009 – 7:00 p.m. Blue Heron Campground – Legends of Big South Fork – Ranger Sherry Fritschi will entertain you with some mysterious legends and colorful stories from these hills and hollows.  Could they be true?  Perhaps you can join in and share a tall tale of your own.

Saturday, June 13, 2009 7:00 p.m. Bandy Creek Campfire Circle – Women’s Life on the Cumberland Plateau - Park Ranger Debby Zimmerman will meet you at the Bandy Creek Campfire Circle to share the important role women played in everyday life in the early days of Big South Fork.

Saturday, June 13, 2009 – 7:30 p.m. Blue Heron Campground - A Specter of Time: Blue Heron Before Restoration.  Join Park Ranger Lynn Thornton at the Blue Heron Campground campfire circle for a look back in time at the Blue Heron Mining Camp before it was reconstructed as an interpretive center.  By using vivid descriptions and historic photographs you can travel back in time to get a vision of what happened to the Blue Heron community after the mines were closed in 1962.

Saturday, June 20, 2009 – 7:00 p.m.  Bandy Creek Campfire Circle - The Bear Facts: How to keep yourself safe and the bears out of trouble. Potential bear problems can be minimized or avoided if each of us takes an active, responsible role as a park visitor and home owner. Park Ranger Sherry Fritschi will be at the Bandy Creek Campfire Circle to share some tips on being safe around bears.  You will learn some interesting facts about bear behavior and how humans should react when encountering a black bear.

Saturday, June 20, 2009 – 7:00 p.m.  – Blue Heron Campground - A Miners’ Child – So often we tend to look at events only from an adult point of view.  Meet Park Ranger Shauna Delk at Blue Heron Campground to get this unique perspective on the life of children in a mining camp.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 – 9:30 p.m.  Bandy Creek - Night Sky Observation– Join Paul Lewis from the University of Tennessee and the astronomy volunteers in the Bandy Creek parking lot across from the visitor center.  Paul Lewis will present a slide program followed an opportunity to look through the telescopes at deep space objects.  In case of inclement weather the slide program will be moved indoors.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 – 7:00 p.m. Blue Heron Campground – In the Beginning: A Creation Story – This program is not what you may think it is.  Park Ranger Jessica Moore will discuss the creation of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and how the area came to be a primary destination for those seeking outdoor adventure.  You will learn about the process of creating a National Park Area.