Together with our Pollinator Project partners, AdkAction celebrated our second Adirondack Pollinator Festival (and 7th annual Pollinator Plant Sale) in Lake Placid on June 1st. Almost every variety of plant in our pollinator-friendly native plant sale sold out, and will soon be blooming in over 200 backyards, community gardens, camps, and public spaces across the Adirondacks. Over 30 kids completed our pollinator scavenger hunt around the greenhouse, earning themselves butterfly or bee wings to keep!
In preparation for the festival, AdkAction grew 2,000 native flowering plants in greenhouse space donated by the Uihlein Foundation. All plants were carefully sourced to ensure that they have never come in contact with neonicotinoids (a class of insecticides that are harmful to pollinators), and were planted in potting soil that includes locally produced compost.
Fifteen volunteers assisted attendees in picking up pre-orders, shopping the remaining plants, running kids activities themed around pollinators, and answering gardening questions.
This year’s festival was joined by the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration, and by The Uihlein Foundation which held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first Motus Wildlife Tracking System in the Central Adirondacks.
Compost for Good, River Valley Regeneratives LLC Adirondack Land Trust, Ausable River Association, Garden Club of Lake Placid, and Mountain Lake PBS were all on hand to help educate and empower attendees of all ages, along with our Adirondack Pollinator Project partners Paul Smith’s College VIC, The Wild Center, and Northern New York Audubon.
