Friends of The Great Falls Discovery Center

Events

The Great Falls Discovery Center hosts community programs and events, rotating art exhibits in our Great Hall and a Coffee House hosted by the Friends of the Great Falls Discovery Center.

Stewardship

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Featured

Wild and Cultivated Edible Plants: A Show ’n Tell *

Great Falls Discovery Center 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA, United States

Many invasive plants, like garlic mustard and goutweed, are tasty and nutritious additions to our diet. Author/illustrator Blanche Derby brings samples of her wild and cultivated plant friends for this indoor presentation in the Great Hall. In collaboration with Exploded View and our 2024Food, Farms, and Factories project. For ages 12 and up. Meet in […]

Free
Featured

Art Naturally Series: Felted Fish*

Great Falls Discovery Center 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA, United States

Discover nature and culture through story, poetry, and art in our series of free Art Naturally programs. Using words and images, instruction and techniques you create an art piece inspired by the natural world to take home. Learn how the shad’s shape helps it swim upstream. Make a wet-felted underwater scene. For adults, teens, and […]

Free

Featured

Find us at the Farmers Market: Soils and Soil pH Testing*

Peskeompskut Park Avenue A between 6th and 7th Streets, Turners Falls

As part of our Food, Farms, and Factories project, join DCR staff, the Friends of the Center, and Western MA Master Gardeners to learn about soils and soil testing, including family-friendly activities. The Great Falls Farmers Market is located between 6th and 7th streets along Avenue A at Peskeompskut Park. Bring your soil to be […]

Free
Featured

Fields & Forests – What do Bees Need? *

Great Falls Discovery Center 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA, United States

Help us kick-off Pollinator Week! Make your own native bee habitat by “painting” with yarn, fleece, pre-felt shapes, and soapy water. Will your bees live in a tree trunk or holes in the ground? Will they build their nests with mud or leaves? Learn how important our native bees are, especially for growing food, and […]

Free

Featured

Rots to Riches * 

Carnegie Library 201 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA

Designed for children and teens. A hands-on interactive 50-minute session about the wonders of compost, and the creatures that help turn old scraps into new plants. Hosted at the Carnegie Library at 201 Avenue A, as part of our Food, Farms, and Factories series. Led by a Hitchcock Center educator, kids and their grown-ups read […]

Free
Featured

Postponed to Sept. 7th due to Thunderstorms- Find Us at the Farmers Market: All About Pollinators *

Peskeompskut Park Avenue A between 6th and 7th Streets, Turners Falls

Postponed to Sept. 7th due to Thunderstorms- As part of our Food, Farms, and Factories project, join DCR staff, the Friends of the Center, and Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners for family activities and information with a special focus on pollinators. The Great Falls Farmers Market is located between 6th and 7th streets along Avenue A […]

Free

Smokey Bear’s 80th Birthday Party!

Great Falls Discovery Center 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA, United States

Free and for all ages. Join Wildland Firefighters from the DCR Bureau of Fire Control & Forestry. Hear a reading of the Smokey Bear Story at 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. Learn about campfire safety. Tour a Wildland Fire Engine, try a scavenger hunt, and at 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. meet Smokey Bear himself! Take home […]

Free
Featured

Art Naturally Series: Painting with Inks from the Garden *

Great Falls Discovery Center 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA, United States

Discover nature through story, poetry, and art in our series of free Art Naturally programs. Using words and images, instruction and techniques you create an art piece inspired by the natural world to take home. Learn how to make ink from cabbage and more! For adults, teens, and children ages 6 and up (accompanied by […]

Free

Kidleidoscope Story Hour – Coyotes

Great Falls Discovery Center 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA, United States

For ages 3-6, accompanied by an adult. Learn more about our wildlife neighbors in the Connecticut River Watershed. Program includes a story, activities, and crafts. Activities are indoors and outdoors, weather permitting. Siblings and friends welcome. Meet in the Great Hall.

Free
Featured

Find Us at the Farmers Market! *

Peskeompskut Park Avenue A between 6th and 7th Streets, Turners Falls

Montague Public Libraries is joining in our Food, Farms, and Factories fun with summer visits to the Farmers Market, with books and activities about growing food. The Great Falls Farmers Market is located between 6th and 7th streets along Avenue A at Peskeompskut Park. * Food, Farms, & Factories: In 2024, the Friends of the […]

Free

Great Hall Exhibit:  Local Birds in Colored Pencil

Great Falls Discovery Center 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA, United States

Artist Mark Majeski takes photographs of birds and plants and arranges them into collages as a guide for his drawings. Using this process, he emphasizes the coloration and behavior of commonly seen Massachusetts birds.

Free
Featured

Pocumtuck Homelands Festival: Fish Printing at Unity Park *

Unity Park 56 First Street, Turners Falls, MA, United States

A free two-day celebration at Unity Park in Turners Falls, sponsored by the Nolumbeka Project and RiverCulture. This festival is the perfect combination of live music, drumming, dancing, storytelling, native crafts and food. On Saturday August 3, 10 a.m.— 5 p.m., families may visit the Northfield Mountain and Great Falls Discovery Center tent to make […]

Free