43
Poland Woods walk features blue bells
Photo
Neigbors | Shaiyla Hakeem.Walkers participated in the annual Blue Bell Festival by hiking through Poland WoodsMay 2. The walk was led my a Mill Creek MetroPark naturalist and was more than two miles long.
Photo
Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Poland Woods were filled with nature walkers May 2 as a part of the Blue Bell Festival activities. Participants traveled the many trails of the forest crossing over this 1956 bridge.
Photo
Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Tom Antonishak (left), Larry Warren, Ray Novotny, Barb Delisio and Joe Mazur participated in the Blue Bell Festival May 2. The painting "Blue Bells of Poland Woods" was donated by Antonishak to Mill Creek MetroPark's Ford Nature Education Center.
Yellow violets, swamp buttercups, black squirrels and woodpeckers were all present in Poland Woods May 2.
The annual Blue Bell Festival was initiated by a stroll through the woods in search of blue bells and many other flowers and plants. Mill Creek MetroPark naturalist Ray Novotny led the walkers through different trails while pointing out wildlife and flowers along the way.
Boardman resident Patsy Anne Zabel said she visits Poland Woods occasionally to enjoy the scenery and get exercise. She wanted to see the blue bells as they were blooming, but this year, they bloomed early.
“I thought the walk was very nice. The blue bells weren’t at their peek, but we can’t help that,” she said.
Town One Streetscapes provided refreshments for those who completed the nature walk.
Poland artist Tom Antonishak donated an oil painting titled “Blue Bells of Poland Woods” to the MetroPark’s Ford Nature Education Center.
Only 150 prints of his painting has been produced and one will be raffled off during Celebrate Poland weekend in June. Ticket sales for the painting began during the festival and will continue to be sold until the Celebrate Poland festivities June 25-26.