The 56th annual Nature Wonder Weekend returns to North Bend State Park in Cairo on September 11-13. Long known as Wild Foods Weekend, it is the longest-running event of its kind in the nation, according to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.
The weekend offers leader-led foraging walks and workshops on identifying, preparing and using wild plants, including their medicinal uses. Featured speakers this year are Bill Beatty, a West Virginia naturalist, author and nature photographer with more than 50 years of Appalachian foraging experience, and Dave Hawkins, a Parkersburg master herbalist known as the ‘Herb Doc.’
Saturday’s social hour includes contests for best wild food, wild cake and wild drink. Five traditional meals will be served at the North Bend Lodge restaurant, and lodge rooms, cabins and campsites are available; camping reservations can be made at wvstateparks.com or by calling 1-833-WV-PARKS.
The event is sponsored by the National Wild Foods Association, the WVDNR and North Bend State Park, and honors founder Edelene Wood, who started the gathering in 1968. Registration and details are at wvdnr.gov/nature-wonder-weekend.