The Long Island Game Farm Wildlife Park began the 2025 season and its 55th anniversary with a special kick-off event on May 3.
“My parents started the park 55 years ago,” Long Island Game Farm president Melinda Novak said. “We wanted to celebrate the 55th [year of operation] and talk about our growth [and] how we’re [looking] into the future.”
The festivities started with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new nature trail specially designed to be accessible to individuals who need wheelchairs.
Additional events such as live music and an interactive environment-themed art exhibit were held as part of the event. The event served not only to celebrate the farm’s anniversary, but also to exhibit the various activities offered by the farm.
The kick-off began officially at 10 a.m. with the ceremony for the new nature trail. The ceremony was hosted by Novak and former News12 anchor and journalist, Doug Geed.
The opening ceremony included a presentation from local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts about projects at the Long Island Game Farm that scouts worked on, such as the construction of a new structure for the farm’s capybaras. Suffolk County Legis. Catherine Stark was invited to speak to the crowd during the ceremony.
“Every time I come here… it’s another emotional hurdle,” Stark said. “[Suffolk County executive] Ed Romaine will forever be behind this place. I will forever be behind this place. This trail isn’t just for [people who need wheelchairs]; it’s for everyone.”
After the opening ceremony concluded, attendees were invited to walk along the wheelchair-accessible nature trail and explore the rest of the farm and park. Environmental artist and educator Tonito Valderrama hosted an interactive art exhibit slightly off the trail’s path. Attendees were invited to build a giant bird’s nest out of nearby branches.
“[The Great Nest of Hope] is [an] interactive nature sculpture where participants help build [it] branch by branch,” Valderrama said. “It [has a] 10-foot circumference and serves as [a] symbol of hope that celebrates the return of the eagles, ospreys, and other birds to Long Island. Each egg is a hand-carved wood log sculpture, for visitors to sit inside the nest to connect. The nest materials can be utilized by local birds for their own nesting as a gift back to nature! These sculptures can be added on to each spring, just as the birds do. We will be ‘feeding two birds with one seed’ as the community works together, creating art and building environmental awareness!”
Well-being counselors Dr. Heidi MacAlpine and Noelle Grogan hosted a small table, themed around crochet, inside one of the Long Island Game Farm’s halls during the kick-off festivities. They currently plan to host a “wellness retreat” for young girls on May 31.
“We provide wellness programs for the community,” MacAlpine said. “Noelle does the crocheting, and we’re doing… a wellness retreat here for girls… We work with the physical and emotional well-being of different… diverse populations.”
“Crochet is a meditative art,” Grogan said. “After you learn the basics, it becomes a very calming activity.”
Novak detailed some of the future events the farm plans to host as part of this year’s season.
“We have Weekends with Nature Nick, starting on Memorial Day weekend,” Novak said. “In August, we have Aim High Canines on our main stage, and then on Labor Day weekend on the 30th, we’re having Pups in the Park.”
According to the Long Island Game Farm website, the “Weekends with Nature Nick’s Animal Adventures” program will be hosted on May 24, 25 and 26. The “Aim High Canines Presents: Stunt Dog Safari” program will begin on Aug. 1 and continue until Sept. 1. Additionally, a series of concerts called the “Songbird Sessions” will be hosted from June through August.
“My parents would have been amazed that we’ve become a Long Island tradition,” Novak said.
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