Join us for our Festival Dinner and Keynote Presentation! Enjoy a delectable family style dinner prepared by ThymeRestaurant & Catering with dessert prepared by Fika Bakery. Then, listen to Keynote Speaker Lee Frelich present "The Temperate-Boreal Ecotone In a Changing Climate," an exploration of different types of boreal refugia and their fate in the warming climate.

If you are interested in purchasing a round table for 8 for $320, please contact Eliza Banjanac at eliza@ridgessanctuary.org or (920) 839-2802 ext 107

Dinner Schedule

Reception & Beverage Service: 4:30 pm

Dinner: 5:00 pm

Welcome & General Announcements: 6:15 pm

Keynote Presentation: 6:30 pm

Limit: 185

Reserve your spot by May 8, 2026

Behind every great event is a dedicated team. Our staff work hard behind the scenes to make the Festival of Nature possible. By sponsoring a staff dinner, you're helping cover the cost of a meal for a staff member supporting the event and our mission. Your generosity is a thoughtful way to thank the people who help bring this celebration to life.

Leader: Shoreline Boat Tours 

Head out into the sparkling waters of Lake Michigan on “Hope,” a retired U.S. Navy boat. Hope was built tough to meet high military safety standards and skipped by knowledgeable and experienced captains, so you can be assured of a safe trip. Hope will navigate the rustic shoreline of Lake Michigan while the narrator/first mate will share stories of the near and distant past, of shipwrecks and lighthouses, ancient geology, and current geography, and of changes to the local landscape. This trip is designed to be an overview of this most beautiful and amazing peninsula! Suitable for families with kids ages 5 & up. 

CENTRAL. MEET: Baileys Harbor Marina 

Limit: 25 

Please Note: This field trip is not discounted for anyone under the age of 16. When registering, please select "No" when prompted, "This registration is for a participant under the age of 16 years" EVEN IF the participant is under 16.

Leader: Ryan Nugent, TNC 

Join us for a birding identification trip for novice birders. Expect to see migratory birds flying around The Nature Conservancy preserve. Learn visual and auditory skills. The hike meets at Mink River, Schoenbrunn trail parking lot at the corner of HWY NP and is 8/10ths of mile hike there and back on a grassy trail. Suitable for ages 18 & up.  

NORTH. MEET: Schoenbrunn Trailhead, Mink River Estuary Parking Lot  

Limit: 8  

Leader: Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands 

Pollinators are crucial for sustaining wildlife, plants, and our food supply. The Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands and the US Fish & Wildlife Service collaborate to protect pollinators and their habitats by addressing climate change and promoting access to nature’s benefits.  View our pollinator plot and the work we are doing to study monarch butterfly migration with the Washington Island School students. Suitable for all ages.  

NORTH. MEET: Shoreline Resort Marina, Gills Rock 

Limit: 14 

Please Note: This field trip is not discounted for anyone under the age of 16. When registering, please select "No" when prompted, "This registration is for a participant under the age of 16 years" EVEN IF the participant is under 16.

Leader: Jeff Lutsey, CCCDC & Katie Krouse, TRS 

Door County sits at the boreal edge—a place of dynamic change and ecological learning. On this field trip, participants will explore how local organizations, landowners, municipalities, and researchers are responding to emerging challenges and shaping solutions that support long-term land health and community well-being. Through guided walks at a boreal tree planting research site and a small-home, eco-focused Boreal Preserve, we’ll examine species shifts, land-use pressures, and community-driven approaches to stewardship and sustainable living. Suitable for ages 16 & up.  

CENTRAL. MEET: Baileys Harbor Town Hall, carpooling required to field trip location 

Limit: 16 

Leader: Karen Smith 

Native plant seed saving can be a rewarding, educational, and budget-friendly way to grow resilient landscapes that thrive naturally. Utilizing native plant seeds in home landscapes supports local wildlife, restore ecosystems, conserve genetic diversity, and create gardens perfectly suited to local climates. While seed saving has been a tradition in farming for centuries, saving and spreading native plant seeds to expand pollinator habitat can help promote biodiversity through seed preservation. 

Participants in this session will review the essential elements for seed collection, cleaning, drying, storing, and germination techniques. Participants will also get some hands-on experience with seed processing and receive pollinator plant seeds collected from the Ridges property to start a home pollinator garden. Suitable for ages 12 & up.  

CENTRAL. MEET: Cook-Albert Fuller Nature Center 

Limit: 12 

Leaders: Mike Grimm, Victoria Holderer, TRS, & Ryan Nugent, TNC 

Discover Door County’s very own internationally recognized Door Peninsula Coastal Wetlands Ramsar site. Join TNC’s Conservation Ecologist, Mike Grimm and Door Peninsula Land Steward, Ryan Nugent, and Ridges Sanctuary’s Applied Research Ecologist, Victoria Holderer, to learn more about our very own regionally and globally significant wetland. Meeting at Fern Trail, along the Mink River Estuary State Natural Area, we will explore a small portion of the 11,443-acre Ramsar site, protected by organizations like The Ridges Sanctuary, The Nature Conservancy, The Door County Land Trust, the Wisconsin DNR, and Door County municipalities. Suitable for ages 16 & up.   

NORTH. MEET: Mink River Fern Trail Parking Lot 

Limit: 10