Scenes from the 2019 Marsh Madness Sandhill Crane Festival in Linton

Humphreys Park in Linton was the place to be Saturday in Linton as local group Friends of Goose Pond joined representatives of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the Indiana Wildlife Artists organization, Indiana University, the Hardy Lake Birds of Prey program and the Wabash Valley Herpetological Society to present the annual Marsh Madness Sandhill Crane Festival. Guests from near and far enjoyed the vendor marketplace, live reptile and amphibian display, owl pellet dissection, art and craft fair, wildlife art exhibit, bus tours and birdhouse building. Robin Myers of Bloomfield, an artist with the Indiana Wildlife Artists organization, displayed her first place blue ribbon-winning painting “Marsh Madness 2019” with works by artist Jeff Klinefelter (second place), Bob Meyers (third place) and others. Myers, who retired from Crane, has been painting wildlife for about four years, first taking photos of the animals in their natural habitat to use as her painting subjects. Along with her paintings of wild birds, Myers also enjoys painting dogs. Festival attendees Emmie and Nathan Nichols, who attended with parents Richard and Brenda of Switz City, were particularly taken with the reptile and amphibian exhibit, posing for pictures with a boa constrictor. At the birdhouse workshop, Takeo, age seven, and sister Kinu, age four, showed mom and dad Asoka and Suzanne Ratnayake their finished birdhouses, created with the assistance of Friends of Goose Pond members Bruce Moore and Bette Meng. The Ratnayake family traveled from Indianapolis to attend the festival after seeing a story in the Greene County Daily World.