Introduction
At the end of May 2004, I took a trip to Tobermory, Ontario to check out the Bruce Peninsula Orchid Festival. It was a friendly, almost homespun event organized by Parks Canada staff from the local national park as an outreach to the community. However "homespun" the festival headquarters and displays, I have to say that the workshops, fields trips, and speakers were top notch. Each event was led and accompanied by a gaggle of researchers, naturalists, and Parks Canada staff in their *very cool* uniforms (I want one of those jackets!), and I almost felt like a V.I.P. in such knowledgeable company. The workshops included not only orchids, but birdwatching, photography, local ecology, ancient trees in the area, extremely rare wildflowers, among others. And I got to see a live rattlesnake.
It really was a fantastic weekend.