26th Annual Sandhill Crane Festival one of the largest in years

OTHELLO — The 2024 Sandhill Crane Festival flew into town the weekend of March 22, bringing with it a flock of visitors and bird enthusiasts heading into Othello. Festival Co-chair Kurt Braunwart said this year’s event had one of the largest attendances yet. “As we lead up to it, we always worry about how it's going to go, and then we get here for the day, and the attendees are so appreciative of being able to learn about the area, learn about the wildlife, learn about the connection of people, farming, and wildlife,” Braunwart said. “It's going wonderful.” The event featured numerous lectures, tours, informational booths and activities for event attendees, covering birds, nature and wildlife in the Othello area. “(There were) a lot of topics about geology, the Ice Age flood, other birds, mammals, the interaction of that wildlife with human life, like the heritage garden talk,” Braunwart said, “and then that springs into how can you do a type of local landscape garden that helps promote the native (vegetation and wildlife) as well, which helps to tie everything together.”