Date: April 19, 2008
Weir Farm National Historic Site Celebrates National Park Week 2008
Saturday, April 19 marked the beginning of National Park Week, our nation's annual celebration of its magnificent natural landscapes and diverse cultural heritage. This year's theme, "Kids in Parks," reflects the National Park Service's commitment to encouraging young people to enjoy outdoor recreation and better appreciate our Nation's beauty and history.
This spring, Weir Farm National Historic Site, Connecticut's only National Park Service site, joins in the celebration of our National Parks by offering a wide variety of programs and activities for children. In partnership with the Weir Farm Art Center, the site welcomed area children as artists and scientists during the week long Explorer Sketchbook program. Children explored the woods, fields and pond using binoculars and microscopes to bring the natural world and the art it inspired into focus. This program was presented in collaboration with one of the National Park Service's premier education centers, the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts. Watch for registration information for this summer's popular Art Explorer classes, at the Weir Farm Art Center’s website at www.weirfarmartcenter.org.
Beginning Saturday, May 3, families will have the opportunity to spend an afternoon painting out in the landscape as part of our "Take Part in Art" program. Children are encouraged to bring their friends and family to experience first-hand the fun of plein air painting every Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 to 4:00 PM, May through October. There is no fee to participate in this program.
Weir Farm National Historic Site is also part of Ridgefield's 300th Anniversary Letterboxing Activity. Twenty-one containers, or letterboxes, have been hidden at various historical places, parks and open spaces around Ridgefield, including Weir Farm National Historic Site. For more information, please visit the Ridgefield 300th Letterboxing website, www.ridgefield300.org/family/letterboxing.
Weir Farm National Historic Site will return to its regular hours of operation on Thursday, May 1. The visitor center will be open Wednesday through Sunday, from 9:00 to 5:00. The regular program schedule will resume with tours of the site at 11:00 and 3:00, and one hour ranger-guided programs at 1:00. The grounds will be available daily from dawn to dusk for hiking, bird watching, photography, and as always, painting and sketching. For more information, including the current program and tour schedule, please call 203-834-1896 or visit www.nps.gov/wefa. An exhibition of paintings and prints by Dorothy Weir Young is currently on view in the Burlingham Gallery until August 3, 2008. To contact the Weir Farm Art Center about the exhibition and upcoming programs, please call 203-761-9945 or visit www.weirfarmartcenter.org.
