Photo by Erin Nelson.
Harrison Blankenhorn, 4, holds a spotted salamander during the 16th annual Salamander Festival held at Shades Valley Community Church in January 2020.
The annual Salamander Festival is returning to Homewood High School following two years of virtual events.
The event, which celebrates the salamanders that call Homewood home, is slated for Saturday, Jan. 28, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the high school’s gym.
If the weather is good, there will be a hike to the salamander ponds on south Lakeshore Drive, said Michelle Blackwood with Friends of Shades Creek, which puts on the event.
There will also be tours of the high school’s rain garden, weather permitting, Blackwood said.
The event features live music, as well as refreshments. While the event is free, donations are encouraged, Blackwood said.
Different groups will be on hand to educate guests about environmental awareness and protection, focusing on the salamanders. Kids and adults will be able to make fish art prints, Blackwood said.
The festival introduces people to the salamanders and the fact that they are in Homewood. While there are eight or nine different species of salamander that live in the old growth forest near Lakeshore, the spotted salamander is the most well-known, Blackwood said.
The salamanders live under rocks and logs during the year, but during a warm, rainy night, usually at the end of January, they migrate to local ponds to mate, Blackwood said. The amphibians cross south Lakeshore just east of Homewood High School, Blackwood said.
“They want to go back to where they hatched,” Blackwood said.
The Friends of Shades Creek will often not only watch the migration but also protect the salamanders’ path to the pond.
Once at the pond, the male salamanders will perform a mating dance, and the females will later lay their eggs in the pond. The new salamanders will hatch about a week or two later, Blackwood said.
And since the salamanders dance, Blackwood said the group always tries to have dancing at the festival.
For more information on the festival and the Friends of Shades Creek, visit shadescreek.org.
