Sandhill Crane Festival soars into Lodi
Lodi has always had a special relationship with the Sandhill cranes that make the Delta their winter home each year.
The ancient birds appear in art all over Lodi: Two cranes land and take off in flight in a bronze sculpture at the train station, swooping wings form the back of a clay tile bench outside of the post office and a crane fishes for dinner in a downtown mural.
At this year’s Sandhill Crane Festival in November, visitors will have the chance to connect with cranes through two special art exhibits in celebration of the festival’s 20th year.
In one, festival-goers will have the chance to become a crane. Artist Cathy Cook, an associate professor of visual arts at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, will present “Cranes in Motion.”
The intermedia project will be housed in a darkened room. Gaming technology will sense visitors and allow them to control a crane avatar projected onto a screen. Visitors can jump, flap, dance and more and watch as their crane form mimics them.
Cook hopes the interactive art exhibit will help people feel more connected to cranes.
“Cranes are part of a natural environment that has its own sense of time; they remind me of prehistoric existence because their form and their rituals have remained relatively unchanged for millions of years,” she wrote.
In the second major project, rock artist Donna Billick of Davis will create a tile mosaic of Sandhill cranes that will be installed on an exterior wall near the entrance of the Lodi Public Library. On Nov. 5, festival attendees of all ages will have the chance to create their own tile for the mosaic mural for free.
Festival-goers can also visit the art show, create origami cranes, learn to carve wooden birds, and enjoy a number of talks, music performances and wildlife shows on Nov. 5 and 6 at the festival’s home base at Hutchins Street Square.
SEE THE SANDHILL CRANES
Though the activities at Hutchins Street Square are enough to keep any visitor busy, the tours are the real heart of the Sandhill Crane Festival.
Tours range from visits to wineries for wine tasting and bird watching, to boat trips in the California Delta and Sierra foothills, to hiking through riparian habitat at Lodi Lake and the Cosumnes River Preserve.
Another festival favorite is the crane fly-in. At dusk, hundreds of cranes return to their preferred sleeping spots after a day of fishing and socializing. Volunteer docents take tour groups to the Isenberg Crane Reserve and Staten Island in the Delta.
“It provides the opportunity for locals and visitors to learn about the natural world right at our doorstep — and is an approachable way for folks to make the connection between what they do at home to the grand scale of conserving a species,” said Mamie Starr, a docent with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and a member of the festival foundation. “The cranes are great ambassadors for the concept of wildlife and habitat conservation. And they really are good for soothing the human heart and soul.”
If you want to see the cranes during the festival, it’s best to go on one of the tours, said Kathy Grant, city of Lodi watershed education coordinator. Otherwise, the crowds at the best viewing spots might become too large and disturb the birds.
Visitors who can’t get space on a tour during the festival are welcome to come back on another weekend and visit the cranes, she said — they’ll be in the Lodi area until February.