There’s a little patch of open space in the middle of the forest just in front of the Caribou Room. For this one day, September 25, 2021, magic occurs in nature. Booths pop up dedicated to the conservation of nature and wildlife. Live raptors are demonstrated by Nature’s Educators, and Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center lets you spin a wheel for a prize.

There are arts and crafts stations where kids and adults can make owls from pine cones and fairy houses from sticks. There’s live music playing all day, with guests such as David Williams and The Alcapones making their arrival, and food sponsored by The Covered Wagon. Finally, there’s a tour on a half-mile loop in this small area of nature, where anthropomorphic animals meet the visitors and explain their daily lives.

These are the kind of adventures one can expect at the 20th Annual Enchanted Forest, a time of celebration for the wonders of nature and a chance for Wild Bear to promote its new net-zero emission nature center. The building, which is scheduled to be finished by October 2023, will encompass the half-mile trail of the small area of Wild Bear property, which is a part of Mud Lake Open Space.

The building will include an outdoor amphitheater, solar power, wildlife observation decks and window, and a nature playscape, among other nature-centric rooms. Tour guides for the nature tour of the Enchanted Forest (including the author of this column) tell guests about Wild Bear’s storied history with Mud Lake and their excitement about the new building.

The event will see the largest attendance rate of any Enchanted Forest, with 976 people (not including volunteers) attending throughout the course of the day, or double the historical maximum. What people love so much about this event is the community spawned by it -- the people who come to embrace nature and want to learn more about how they can cooperate with it.

Wild Bear founder Jill Dreves especially appreciates the work of the volunteers who work so hard every single day to make events like this happen, and she is grateful that the nature center has become its own endeavor with such an outstanding connection to its visitors.

The new Wild Bear property will be located at the same site as the Enchanted Forest, 55 Indian Peaks Drive in Nederland.