The cranes are coming

OTHELLO — The community of Othello and people from all over the state and far away places will gather here this weekend, Friday and Saturday, for the 20th annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival.

Sandhill cranes stop in the Othello area every year about this time to rest and refuel on their way to Alaska. They travel the Pacific Flyway on their way to their breeding grounds in the tundra.

“I’ve heard estimates of more than 35,000 stop here,” volunteer Kurt Braunwart said.

The festival is mostly school bus tours on Friday, going out from the Stevens Funeral Home parking lot. Participants are taken to areas scouted during the week for sandhill crane concentrations.

Each tour includes a guide who is well-versed in wildlife and/or geology and a guide with expert agricultural knowledge.

There will be a lecture Friday night at Othello High School by CWU professor Nick Zentner, who says this area is a Disneyland for geology. There will be a spaghetti feed at the Eagles Lodge that night.

The rest of the weekend, the festival will be centered around Othello High School. The participants may enjoy lectures all day by specialists in wildlife and geology. There will be 46 from which to choose.

But first, visitors will be able to enjoy a breakfast prepared by the Othello Rotary Club.

There will be more tours from 7 a.m. to mid-day. The lectures will start at 9 a.m. and go to evening. Saturday will close with the lecture “Cranes Are People Too!,” a banquet and silent auction from 7:30-9:30 p.m.

The festival will resume at 7:15 a.m. Sunday with more lectures and tours.

The Othello Sandhill Crane Festival Committee plans, organizes and conducts the Festival. It includes a cross section of Othello citizens, Grant County Conservation District staff, plus residents from Ephrata, Moses Lake and Royal City.

The festival has grown over the years, with returning participants attending from across the country. It attracted 400 visitors the first year. Now it requires 400 volunteers.

Saturday is the main festival day. For a general admission fee of $10 adults, $5 seniors 65 and up and children 12 and under free, you will find a day full of lectures and activities.

For children, there will be many activities, such as mask making, binocular making, face painting, free photobooth and games, and the WSU Raptor Club members will bring their live birds. “The WSU Raptors Club is really good,” Braunwart said. “The club members walk around with the birds on their arms and bring them right up to you.”

There will be informational and other items for sale by vendors on a variety of subjects pertinent to the festival. The Authors Forum in the gym will offer new books, and authors will be signing.

All day Saturday, the All Scratch Bakery will provide a snack bar, and you may order a boxed lunch.

Saturday at noon, the Othello Senior Citizen group will be serving homemade soups, hot dogs, chili dogs, baked potatoes, drinks and other items.

The 20th anniversary will be recognized at noon with free cupcakes and entertainment.

“We’re very excited to reach 20 years,” festival coordinator Marie Lotz said.

The highlight speakers will include Nick Zentner from Central Washington University, famous for his “Two-Minute Geology” videos. He will be discussing Washington geology Friday evening.

Saturday afternoon, award-winning photographer and author, Paul Bannick will present his new book “Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls.”

Saturday’s keynote banquet speaker will be Dr. Gary Ivey of the International Crane Foundation, lecturing on “Cranes Are People Too!”

There will be a special visit by wildlife artist and photographer Bart Rulon from 3-4 p.m. on Saturday. He will go behind the scenes to show how a professional wildlife photographer works.

Rulon will lecture about equipment, locations, field techniques, camera techniques and camera settings, and he will share a multitude of photographs and a few stories from his wildlife expeditions around the world and locally.