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JAMESTOWN, NY (WNY News Now) – The Roger Tory Peterson Institute is celebrating their name sake’s 114th birthday, by throwing a celebration this weekend.
The museum will be inviting patrons to join in festivities by viewing exhibits, enjoying refreshments, and listening to the performance by local band “The Probables.”
“Instead of a birthday party, bird-day party. And it’s gonna be the best bird-day party ever,” explained Program and Events Manager, David Niles.
Joining in on the celebration are several artists from around the world.
“We have 15 different artists from around the country, and one from Barcelona, so they’re coming here from all over the world. You get to go inside, you can escape and look at this artwork, escape on the trails, escape with music, I think we need it,” Niles.
“You come in, you’re gonna get a bird-day cupcake, you get to sing happy birthday with The Probables to Roger, and our friends at Johnson Estate Winery, they donated wine tasting passes. So every single person that comes that buys a ticket, if you’re over 21, you get a free tasting at Johnson Estate Winery as well,” said Niles.
It’s almost been three decades since Roger Tory Peterson passed away, and the museum is trying their best to keep his memory alive and well.
“Roger, born and raised in Jamestown New York, he was an artist, he had an innate ability that was nurtured through his teachers. And so he put his love for nature and his artistic ability together and in 1934, came out with this revolutionary book that was beautiful artwork of birds combined with information, and also he came up with the Peterson identification model to identify certain characteristics of birds,” Niles said.
It seems like the institute has something for everyone to enjoy.
“In these troubling times, because we’ve been through some trouble over the last week especially, to come here, we have 27 acres here, we have nature trails, we have beautiful artwork inside,” said Niles, “We just wanna be here for the community, we want everyone to feel like this is a third place for them. You have your home, you have work, come hang out with us at RTPI. It’s a safe space, and we want everyone to feel like they can come here and just get lost.”
The bird-day party, as it’s called, will take place at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute on Curtis Street in Jamestown on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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