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After a four year hiatus, mostly due to Covid, the Strawberry Festival made a comeback on Friday June 3rd! Lions once again set up their tent and tables to serve strawberries biscuits and ice cream! The homemade biscuits and frozen berries were purchased from KayTees and the delicious vanilla ice cream was generously donated by Hershey’s, who once again supported a Lions activity involving ice cream! Over 70 servings were doled out by Lion Volunteers.

In another volunteer effort, Lions manned a water station at mile marker 11 for the Marathon. Battling the heat, they handed out much needed water to the runners. One more thing, the recycling center was also open and manned by a Lion!

Between 8 a.m. and noon on Sunday, May 28, a total of 1,364 people, the most ever, attended the Canyon Pilots Association’s All-You-Can-Eat Memorial Day Weekend Fly-In Breakfast in the commercial corporate hangar at the Grand Canyon Regional Airport, 112 Runway Road, Wellsboro.

Of the 1,364 who ate breakfast, 1,228 were adults and youth, ages 9 and up; 136 were 3- to 8-year-olds. During the three hours between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., an estimated 1,314 people went through the breakfast line or 438 per hour.

“It was a perfect day. We knew we were going to have a good turnout because of the weather but we didn’t know how good,” said Joe Burnside. “On average about 1,000 people attend our Memorial Day breakfast each year. Our highest turnout until today was slightly more than 1,200 but I’m not sure what year that was. Now, 1,364 people is our new record for the most that have ever attended,” he said.

“The line of people for the breakfast was steady, out the door and almost to the runway from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. with no let up. We were all crazy busy. At 11 a.m., the line disappeared and boom that was it. From 11 a.m. until noon, about 50 people came through,” said Burnside.

“We were concerned we were going to run out of food and other supplies but didn’t. We sent someone to the grocery store to buy eggs, maple syrup, cooking oil, 18 more gallons of water that we needed to mix the pancake batter, make the orange juice and coffee and to have for people to drink, and trash bags. We went through lots of trash bags.”

More than 50 airplanes landed at the airport during the breakfast with several pilots commenting that it was the perfect day for flying – sunny and calm. Two airplanes and a helicopter provided rides for the public.

The Memorial and Labor Day breakfasts are theCanyon Pilots Association’smajor fundraisers with monies used to support youth interested in aviation and to benefit the airport.

On Saturday, May 27, 11 people participated in the last free guided bird walk at Hills Creek State Park at 111 Spillway Road, about seven miles northeast of Wellsboro.

“Two new people came on the walk. They were staying at Cedar Run for the weekend,” said Sean Minnick. He and Ken Cooper, both members of the Tiadaghton Audubon Society, the local birding group, led the walk.

“It was a sunny day and the park was full of campers. We saw 39 different bird species. The biggest surprise for us was seeing a ruddy turnstone. They are usually found along the east or west coast,” Minnick said. Their breeding grounds are the artic tundra.

“We have seen one or more ruddy turnstones in this area once every four to five years probably due to migration fallout caused by severe weather. In high winds, migrating birds become exhausted and are forced to land and rest. At first, we weren’t sure what type of bird it was until a member of our group with a powerful lens on his camera focused on its orange legs.”

For updates on birds in the area or helpful tips, email tasmember@yahoo.com or visit tiadaghtonaudubon.blogspot.com or www.facebook.com/TiadaghtonAudubon/. 

For information about Hills Creek State Park, call the park office between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays at 570-724-4246. 

Penn State Extension recently welcomed three new apprentices to its Potter County Master Gardener Program. Linda Ford of Millport, Jennie Rodriguez-Priest of Coudersport, and Sue Shaeffer of Galeton completed an intensive 6-month basic training in April 2023.

Completion of the training program, which began in October 2022, is the first step towards earning Master Gardener certification. Each trainee must finish 40 hours of instruction and participate in weekly online classes conducted by Penn State University faculty and Extension staff. Classes include a broad range of horticulture topics such as botany, plant propagation, soil health and fertilizer management, composting, controlling pests safely, entomology, indoor plants and diseases, vegetables, tree and small fruits, lawn care, pruning, woody ornamentals, herbaceous and native plants, weeds and invasives, and landscape design. Trainees studied corresponding topic chapters in the Master Gardener manual, watched webinars, and took quizzes to test their knowledge. They progressed to the second step of the program, the apprenticeship phase, after scoring at least 80% on their mid-term and final exams.

Apprentices must serve a minimum of 50 volunteer hours by end of September 2023 to qualify for Master Gardener Certification. Projects may include planting and designing pollinator-friendly demonstration gardens on the Extension grounds in Coudersport, staffing and responding to Garden Hotline questions or at Ask a Master Gardener community events, hosting classes and workshops, supporting Potter County fair activities and writing articles for publication in local and social media forums. Apprentices may also participate in state sponsored Master Gardener events and workshops hosted by Penn State.

Linda, Jennie and Sue are anxious to share their passion for gardening and, collectively, have already earned numerous service hours. Linda, a semi-retired Public Accountant, utilizes her 45 years of organic gardening expertise on her 32-acre property and is starting new gardens in Petoskey, MI, where she lives 5 months a year. Jennie, a human resources consultant, has residences in Coudy and Berks County, PA, where she grows and propagates houseplants, notably succulents, and sowed her first vegetable garden on the Extension grounds. Sue, a native of Venango County, is a retired nurse with experience in greenhouse flowers and home vegetable gardening. They all enrolled in the Master Gardener program to learn more about horticulture and share their knowledge with the public through community outreach. When they earn their Master Gardener certification, they will join their Potter County peers who were certified in 2022. Together, they will continue to support our communities by educating best practices in sustainable horticulture and environmental stewardship.

For additional information, contact Leona Smith, Potter County Master Gardener Coordinator, 814-274-8540, ext 103, lds5520@psu.edu.

Wilds are Working project bringing six families to Cameron County during the month of July.  Lily Jones and James Cato both work remotely.  Lily is a communications specialist for the Environmental Defense Fund and James is a regional organizer for Mountain Watershed Association.  The couple is considering moving to a tight-knit community and plans to use the opportunity to test out living and working in a small town.

Lily wants access to outdoor recreation where she can run a trail in the evening after work or enjoy a backpacking trip without a long drive.  The couple also plans to enjoy kayaking either on the Driftwood Branch of the Sinnemahoning Creek or at the George B Stevenson Dam at Sinnemahoning State Park. 

A committee operating under the direction of the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce had the task of sifting through 41 applications for the PA Wilds Remote Working project.  “The committee focused on those ready to relocate and seeking the opportunity to leave big box stores and strip malls behind,” says chamber director Tina Solak.