Festival Honors Coast

The Brunswick News

As residents of the Golden Isles, we are fortunate to live in an area rich in natural resources and amazing wildlife. CoastFest 2005 is a celebration of these elements and all of Georgia's vast and varied coastal resources.

The day-long festival will be held Oct. 1, rain or shine, at the Department of Natural Resources headquarters in Brunswick.

"There is something fun and educational for everyone - young and old - at this annual environmental festival," said Susan Shipman, director of the Coastal Resources Division.

Visitors will be offered a day filled with more than 85 hands-on exhibits, demonstrations, tours, nature walks, contests with prizes, projects to "make and take," art exhibits and much more.

CoastFest 2005 provides opportunities to learn more about our unique ecosystem from the fascinating marine life found in the marshes and ocean of the Golden Isles to the impact of pollution.

Attendees may tour a DNR research vessel, pick through the findings of a real sea trawl and talk to marine biologists. Also open for tours will be DNR law enforcement, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Coast Guard vessels.

Touch tanks will allow festival-goers to get up close and personal with a horse shoe crab, a blue crab and many other live sea creatures.

"Wee Bee," the DNR's 70-foot long whale built to scale, encourages all to crawl inside and walk around in order to see the real size of these aquatic mammals.

In addition to the exhibit area, popular educational programs are back this year. Creek Indian Jim Sawgrass invites visitors to step back into early Coastal Georgia for a look at Native American culture in the 1700s. In an Indian back-drop encampment, Sawgrass and his family present Creek cooking, traditional games and activities and other rituals.

The DNR technicians will be back with their knowledge of the indigenous reptiles found on the coast, including snakes and alligators.

Something new this year will be presented by the Glynn Environmental Coalition.  Local singers and musicians will donate their time and live-entertainment talents to the event. Entertainer and GEC president Bill Owens noted that this will be an exciting new endeavor for the GEC.

"We are trying to get as many local musicians as we can find to come and make noise here. Hopefully, we can have a real jamboree, and I don't know of any time in the past when lots of local talents got together on one stage for any event," Owens said.

Also new this year will be the "Puppet People," nationally recognized puppeteers from Savannah. As life-sized puppets, the performers use humorous skits and costumes to educate folks on the hidden world of marine life.

"Come be a part of Georgia's largest celebration of our state's coastal natural resources, CoastFest," urged Lea King, CoastFest and public affairs coordinator. "Get ready to have fun, to be surprised, to learn, to be excited and to strengthen your appreciation of our unique coastal world."