Dear editor,

The Cass County Parks and Recreation staff would like to say thank you to all of the volunteers, Polmateer sleigh rides, The Friends of the Cass County Parks, Crane Pond State Game Area and all those wonderful visitors who shared fun and created memories with us during Discover Winter Nights 2011.

When the groundhog predicted only six more weeks of winter, Cass County Parks were already benefiting from snow conditions that made for record attendance at its six-week winter event, “Discover Winter Nights,” located at Dr. T.K. Lawless Park. Attendance for the entire six weeks of Saturday night programming exceeded 800 visitors. Encouraging numbers especially when you consider one of those nights the temperature was hovering around 10 degrees and another Saturday night was only three days after the early February blizzard.

Visitors from as far away as Chicago and Detroit enjoyed more than 300 cups of hot chocolate, a warming fire, lighted inner tube sledding and cross-country skiing throughout the season. On special occasions we also included the very popular horse-drawn sleigh rides, Valentine’s Day Tribute and “Owls on Call.” This owl workshop was the first of a new birding series being introduced by Cass County Park’s Leisure Services Coordinator Suzann Flowers and John Wuepper, Audubon Society member and local birding enthusiast. Other birding workshops planned for this year include “Uncovering the American Woodcock,” “Migrating Songbirds” and “The Wonders of Fall Birds.”

Events like Discover Winter Nights remind us that parks are not just a great place to enjoy nature, but they also create a living classroom for children, habitat for plants and animals, contribute to the quality of life and economic development of the county and provide a place for families to come together to actively or passively recreate.

For more information on our birding series or volunteer opportunities within our parks please call Cass County Parks and Recreation at (269) 445-8611, see us on Facebook or e-mail Scott Wyman at swyman@casscoroad.com.

Cass County Parks and Recreation