Events

Grab your work gloves and help spruce up the Park you love! At least once a month during our busy season, we need volunteers to help us clean up an area of our 1,800 acre Park. In April we are focusing on the Train Depot and the surrounding area.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet at the Train Depot.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.
-Bring your own work gloves.
-If possible, bring rakes and shovels.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

Easter Brunch

Only 250 seats are available for this delicious brunch catered by The Edge American Fusion Restaurant. Book your reservations before it’s too late! Brunch tickets include tax, gratuity, Park Admission, and the Easter Egg Hunt. Reservations required.

Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter Egg Hunt returns to Wildlife Prairie Park! We have separate egg hunts for different age groups. A special prize will be awarded to the child who finds the golden egg during each egg hunt! The Egg Hunt is Free with Park Admission. WPP Members receive Free Park Admission.

Wildlife Prairie Park | Peoria Riverfront Museum | Peoria Zoo | Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum

Are you a member of Wildlife Prairie Park, Peoria Zoo, Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum, or Peoria Riverfront Museum? Enjoy a weekend of free general admission* to all four of these Peoria-area attractions when you present your membership card and photo ID during the weekend of April 14-16.

*Charges may apply for additional experiences.

There are many plants in Central Illinois that are edible and nutritionally beneficial. Learn from an expert about the local plants that are in season, their nutritional benefits, how to forage safely, and go foraging around the Park tasting some of the plant you find!

Location: TBD either Log Room or Parkside – depends on where Ken finds the most foraging plants for the class.

Participants Should Bring: A small, flat basket or paper sack for collecting materials.

Grab your work gloves and help spruce up the Park you love! At least once a month during our busy season, we need volunteers to help us clean up an area of our 1,800 acre Park. In May we are focusing on the Main Bricks and the surrounding area.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet on the Main Bricks.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.
-Bring your own work gloves.
-If possible, bring rakes and shovels.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

Looking through the lens and seen through the lens are two different things. Seen through the lens is the first step to learning how to pre-visualize your images.  

When we first picked up the camera our journey started with simply taking pic. Then we started looking for photographic opportunities to take better pictures. At some point in our journey, we started looking for opportunities to create imagery. This was the beginning of previsualization of your imagery but, the images that we captured seem to have fallen short of what we visualized. This workshop lays the foundation for capturing fully, our previsualization. 

• Maximum Participants: 30 
• Meeting Location: Log Room 
• Special Photography Shoot of both the new wolf pack in the animal keeper area just outside their enclosure and the Bison and Elk while riding a hayrack through the pasture with the opportunity to potentially photograph bison calves. 

Grab your work gloves and help spruce up the Park you love! At least once a month during our busy season, we need volunteers to help us clean up an area of our 1,800 acre Park. In June we are focusing on our lakes and the surrounding area.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet at the determined location.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.
-Bring your own work gloves.
-If possible, bring rakes and shovels.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

Fire is essential for surviving in the wilderness. It provides warmth, a source of light, allows you to cook food, and make drinkable water. Learn fire craft safety, what you need to create and maintain a fire and numerous ways to start a campfire.

Location: TBD. Depends on where the class be collecting fire supplies

Participants Can Bring: Belt knife and Magnifying Glass

Grab your work gloves and help spruce up the Park you love! At least once a month during our busy season, we need volunteers to help us clean up an area of our 1,800 acre Park.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet at the determined location.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.
-Bring your own work gloves.
-If possible, bring rakes and shovels.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

It has always been my philosophy to shoot perfect. The goal is to create a perfectly composed image that needs no cropping for enhancement. Shooting Perfectly composed images requires refinement as you adjust to make the in-camera image match your pre-visualization. 

Quite often as you are refining the in-camera image you will create options or even stronger impacting images than your initial previsualization. This workshop will lay out the practical foundation for how to recognizing the strength and power of an image as you are composing it in-camera……. Practical steps for shooting perfect. 

• Maximum Participants: 40 
• Meeting Location: Log Room 
• Special Photography Shoot of WPP Animal Ambassadors with a natural background. Participating Animal Ambassadors may include birds, reptiles, mammals, amphibians depending on the discretion on the Animal Keeper. 

Grab your work gloves and help spruce up the Park you love! At least once a month during our busy season, we need volunteers to help us clean up an area of our 1,800 acre Park.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet at the determined location.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.
-Bring your own work gloves.
-If possible, bring rakes and shovels.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

Help us decorate the Park with lights for Wildlife Scary Park.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet at the determined location.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

A change in season means a change in the plants available for foraging. Learn from an expert about wild medicinals, how to identify local plants and mushrooms, and go foraging for fall plants on the Flood Plain Trail.

Location: Log Room then Hike to Flood Plain Trail through the Pioneer Area

Participants Should Bring: a small, flat basket or paper sack for collecting materials.

Help us decorate the Park with lights for Wildlife Scary Park.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet at the determined location.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

Help us decorate the Park with lights for Wildlife Scary Park.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet at the determined location.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

Help us decorate the Park with lights for Wildlife Scary Park.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet at the determined location.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

Help us decorate the Park with lights for Wildlife Scary Park.

No experience necessary! Volunteer Workdays do not require regular commitments. Just sign up for as many Volunteer Workdays as you want. We welcome individuals 18 years and older and minors with a parent or guardian to sign up for Volunteer Workdays.

-Volunteers should plan to arrive 15 minutes before the Volunteer Workday begins.
-Enter the Park through the Ticket Gate and meet at the determined location.
-Dress for the weather. Closed-toe shoes are required & long pants are recommended all year-round.
-Sun protectant (hats, sun glasses, etc.), sunscreen, and insect repellant are also recommended.
-Bring water to stay hydrated.

SIGN UP

If you have any questions or have a group interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@wildlifeprairie.org.
Interested in volunteering more at the Park? Available 2023 Volunteer Opportunities

One of the joys of photography is seeing great imagery.  

The purpose of the photograph/image is to share that joy with others. As you develop your ability to see through the lens one of the side effects is you’ll be able to recognize exactly what an image will look like before you look through the lens. At this point you’re seeing the world as a series of photographs and choosing which images to share. 

This workshop goes deeper into practical refinement of previsualization, composing in the camera in order to creating images that achieve a predetermined visual purpose. 

• Maximum Participants: 40 
• Meeting Location: Forest Hall 
• Special Photography Shoot will feature landscapes of the Park.