'Celebrate Wildcat Creek' returns to Adams Mill

Take a canoe ride, hike a trail, learn about creek ecology, tour a mill, or just relax and listen to music in the shade of giant trees. It's your pick, and it's all free this Saturday when "Celebrate Wildcat Creek" returns to Carroll County's Adams Mill for the annual creek event.

Sponsored by the Wildcat Creek Foundation and Wildcat Guardians, organizers say the mill is the ideal setting for the event. Foundation president Mark Krivchenia calls it, "…a near-perfect combination of natural and man-made history, one of the most beautiful spots in the entire Wildcat Valley."

The day begins at 10 a.m. and shuts down at 6 in the evening.

If you're interested in more than pure entertainment, there's plenty of opportunity for that. Representatives of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources will be on hand to answer questions about stream ecology and management. Representatives of the Hoosier Environmental Council and local environmental groups will be there to describe their efforts to preserve the stream. And local artists will be available to work with children on art projects involving nature.

There will be a raffle, with a variety of prizes including a canoe.

Ask Krivchenia why the Wildcat is worthy of celebration, and he's quick to reply. "The creek and its valley constitute a unique and beautiful ecosystem important not only to communities along its course, but to all of north-central Indiana. It is one of only four rivers to receive state designation as 'scenic.' With today's emphasis on the social, health and economic benefits of trails and greenways, the Wildcat fits right in. The creek corridor is one of the most pristine greenways in the area; and the creek itself is a natural trail - albeit a water trail. We owe it to future generations to preserve it."

As an example of that preservation effort, a dedication ceremony for the foundation's latest land acquisition (a nearly half-mile buffer strip along the creek and adjacent to the mill), will take place at 2 p.m.

There will be various displays on the grounds, including one by the Wildcat Wildlife Center.

Food will be available for purchase, or people can bring a picnic lunch.

Adams Mill is located a half mile east of Cutler off Indiana 75. Signs to the mill are posted.