Status Updates
- The Board of Park Commissioners encourages voluntary mask use, maintaining physical distancing, and washing hands often.
- Parks & Nature Preserves are free & open daily from 8:00 am until 30 minutes past sunset.
- Facility Open Views – see the event venues!
- Otsego, Thomson Stone Hall – 1st Monday; 7-8 pm
- W.W. Knight, Great Room – 1st Wednesday; 7-8 pm
Hiking Challenge
Hike the parks & log your hours September through October, 2023.
Redeem your Hiking Challenge Passport for access to an exclusive Park District shirt. The Cedar Creeks Preserve will be the park featured on the park shirts. Learn more.
Find a text version of the Hiking Challenge passport here.
Fall Native Plant Sale
Thursday, September 21; 4-7 pm
Cedar Creeks Preserve, 4575 Walbridge Road, Northwood
Purchase quality native plants grown by the Stewardship Department of the Wood County Park District. These plants create drought-resistant & flood-resistant areas, sequester carbon, create pollinator habitat, and are beautiful. Fall is a great time to plant perennials.
Native forbs: $5
Native shrubs: $10
2023 FALL PLANT SALE LIST
FORBS
# Trays (15 per tray)
1. Big Blue Stem 1
2. Columbine 2
3. Culver’s Root 3
4. Gray Headed Coneflower 4
5. Indian Grass 2
6. Ironweed 1
7. Lance-Leaf Coreopsis 3
8. Little Blue Stem 10
9. Nodding Wild Onion 2
10. Prickly Pear Cactus 1
11. Rose Mallow 2
12. Sneezeweed 5
13. Swamp Milkweed 3
14. Sweet Joe Pye Weed 6
15. Wild Senna ½
WOODIES
# pots
1. Silky Dogwood 40
2. Button Bush 20
3. Ninebark 20
4. Black Chokeberry 20
5. Sycamore 10
6. Gooseberry 10
7. Smooth Sumac 10
Scarecrow Contest
Scarecrow Contest & Workshop
Thursday, October 5; 4:30 – 7:30 pm
Carter Historic Farm, 18331 Carter Road, Bowling Green, OH 43402
Join in on the family fun fall tradition of building scarecrows! Build a scarecrow from scratch using our provided materials or bring your homemade scarecrow to Carter Historic Farm to create a festive display for all to enjoy! Once completed, enter your scarecrow into our 22nd Annual Scarecrow Contest to win cash prizes! Find full contest details at wcparks.org. Scarecrows will be on display and judged live during the Heritage Farm Fest October 7. Contest scarecrows will be on display through October 14 and winners announced during the Heritage Farm Fest October 7. *The deadline to register for this program is October 2.* Register here for the Scarecrow Workshop. Register your scarecrow for the Contest at the Scarecrow Workshop after your scarecrow is set up. Must register for the contest to be eligible for prizes.
Heritage Farm Fest
Wild Lights 2023
The Wild Lights event was a great success!
Check out the highlight video here.
THANK YOU to the 800+ people, who over the course of three days, made Wild Lights Weekend even more spectacular than the lights themselves! There was dancing, laughing, learning, amazement, smiling faces, and lots of great memories. 2023 was the third year for the Wild Lights imaginative lighted animal displays and saw the addition of an indoor space with a winter photo stop, hot chocolate, cookies, and pretend snowballs.
Congratulations to the winners!
1st $150 “For the Fun of it!” | Black Bear
2nd $100 “Maneo Minnows” | Browsing Buck
3rd $50 “The Downey and Lopez/Meek Families” | Doe and Turkey
Community members adopted 3D foam animal displays and decorated them with lights. The contest is free to enter and is a great team-building activity for offices, organizations, and service groups.
We are thankful for our community partners!
Thank you to the Way Library of Perrysburg for their creative and inspiring display.
Thank you to the Friends of the Wood County Park District for sponsoring the contest prize funds and the hot cocoa & cookies inside the W.W. Knight Nature Preserve Nature Center. Become a Friend today!
Add your name to the interest list to receive information about participating in Wild Lights 2024.
Go Green 2023
Go green and earn green gear.
Participate in the Go Green program by self-stamping the Go Green Passport when you make green choices and visit parks. Redeem your passport at Park District Headquarters for green giveaways.
The Go Green Passport is a collection of ideas to make good Earth Choices.
Click here for a printable passport.
Click here for the text version and more information.
Memorial Bench Program
With a gift of $3,000 (or more) to the Friends of the Wood County Parks Memorial Bench program, a Memorial Bench with a personalized plaque is placed at a park agreed upon by donor and park staff based on space availability. The gift amount covers the cost of the bench, installation, and a personalized plaque.
Click here for text versions of the Memorial Bench Terms and Request Form.
Heritage flours for sale!
Sustainably grown and harvested cornmeal,
buckwheat flour, and wheat flour from the
Carter Historic Farm are available for
purchase on site. The farm buildings are
open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 1 – 4 pm.
These quality products were grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.
Thank you for supporting the sustainable heritage practices at the Carter Historic Farm.
Down on the Farm
The Carter Historic Farm is a working farm and cultural heritage agricultural center interpreted to the Depression-era. The buildings are open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 1 – 4 pm. The park grounds are open daily from 8:00 am until 30 minutes past sunset. To keep up-to-date with what’s happening on the farm, visit the Carter Historic Farm Facebook page.
Videos
Follow the WC Parks YouTube Channel.
Check out this video tour of the Sawyer Quarry Nature Preserve.
Just Nature
Just Nature: Sunset over the Maumee River
Just Nature: Babbling Brook
Commemorative Trail
Say it forever with an engraved brick at the W.W. Knight Nature Preserve.
An 8 x 8 inch brick with 5 lines of text is $125. A 4 x 8 inch brick with 3 lines of text is $100. Order forms must be mailed or delivered to the Park District Headquarters located at 18729 Mercer Road, Bowling Green, OH 43402.
Please make checks payable to the Friends of the Wood County Parks. This is a fundraiser and the proceeds go to the Friends of the Parks who support park amenities, activities and beautification.
Click here for a Brick Order Form. Engraved bricks are added to the trail twice a year, at the end of November and the end of May.