Jan Ward got an idea when she helped lead a campfire at Greenbelt Forest Preserve in North Chicago nearly a decade ago in the winter.
“There were some 270 people who came out and roasted a marshmallow over an open fire in a fire pit. Almost every one of them said they had never done that before. I thought, that’s’ really sad. Most of the people I know grew up roasting marshmallows outside over campfires.
“So I thought: Let’s engage the community to enjoy Greenbelt Forest Preserve. Let’s have a community campfire on Friday nights. We’ll roast marshmallows. We’ll make s’mores. We’ll do a nature activity.”
And Ward, environmental educator for the forest preserves, has done just that once a month during the warmer months. The next one is scheduled for July 22.
Typically, more than 50 adults and children come to roast marshmallows, tell stories, sing songs and engage in nature activities with Ward leading the way. For the next campfire, Ward said she likely will guide a pond scooping in which participants use a special net to capture critters from the pond and observe them.
“So many people don’t know that dragonflies start their lives in water and how that makes it important for us to keep the water clean,” she said.
Sometimes, people think “ew” when they’re scooping up the muck from the bottom of the pond and sifting through it to find the hiding creatures, she said, but they come around.
“They’ll say: ‘This is cool. I never knew a dragonfly looked like that.’ Or we catch frogs in their tadpole stage, or those that have just sprouted their legs but still have their tails,” Ward said.
Other times she’ll plan an activity with the theme, “Nature Rocks,” where children can create tic-tac-toe games with sticks and rocks or paint animals on rocks.
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Over time, more campfire participants say they’ve roasted marshmallows. “I’ve had people tell me they have birthday parties for their kids and do that now,” she said.
She lets participants guide the evenings by singing, telling stories or, “Sometimes they just want to sit and chit-chat and be outside and see their kids having fun roasting marshmallows,” she said.
She sneaks in a few environmental lessons by taking participants for a short nature hike behind the cultural center.
“We talk about restoration and stewardship and why we do it. If there’s an area that’s heavily filled with buckthorn and honeysuckle, we can talk about how that may look healthy, but it’s nature out of balance,” she said, due to the invasive species that choke out more diverse native species.
“We’re trying to help them become aware of those things and let them know they can join in restoration workdays at the preserve,” she said, adding they also can visit Greenbelt Forest Preserve free any time during light hours and take walks, enjoy nature and fish in the lake.
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Community Campfire Nights
When: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays, July 22, Aug. 19, Sept. 23, Oct. 28
Where: Greenbelt Cultural Center, 1215 Green Bay Road, North Chicago
Tickets: Free, no registration required
Information: 847-968-3477; www.lcfpd.org/greenbelt-cultural-center/
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter