Free Arts and Eats weekend at Kellogg Bird Sanctuary near Battle Creek, then an Owl Prowl Oct. 22

AUGUSTA, Mich. — About 12 miles northwest of Battle Creek, the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary is opening its gates for free this weekend as part of the regional Arts and Eats driving tour, then wrapping the month with a guided birding hike and a nighttime Owl Prowl on Thursday, Oct. 22.

Arts and Eats runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18, at the sanctuary, 12685 East C Avenue in Augusta, according to the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary events calendar. Admission is free both days, and no registration is required. Visitors can walk the grounds, view art displays and take in the autumn landscape around Wintergreen Lake.

Saturday also brings back the Kids Makers Market, where young entrepreneurs ages 6 to 17 sell their own goods. The sanctuary is one stop on a wider free self-driving tour of Allegan and Barry counties and nearby rural sites that pair local art, food and agriculture.

Families who miss the free weekend still have October programming on site. A Storybook Walk based on Hope Lim’s “I Am a Bird” lines the accessible three-quarter-mile paved path through Oct. 31 during regular hours (the sanctuary is closed Mondays and Tuesdays). The Overlook building’s October theme is “Take a Wing,” with feather crafts and bird-themed play.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, sanctuary staff lead the season’s last monthly birding hike from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Hikers should be ready to walk about a mile on uneven ground; members attend free, and non-members pay general admission of $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and students, and $5 for children ages 2 to 17, the sanctuary says. Binoculars are available to borrow.

That same evening, Owl Prowl runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The program starts with a visit from one of the sanctuary’s ambassador owls, then continues outdoors with calls for wild owls along the trails. Registration is required and space is limited; the sanctuary asks guests to sign up by Tuesday, Oct. 20. Non-member tickets are $9 for adults, $8 for seniors or college students, and $7 for children ages 2 to 17; member rates are $2 less in each category. Children under 2 are free.

Questions go to birdsanctuary@kbs.msu.edu or (269) 671-2510. The sanctuary sits one mile north of M-89, just west of 40th Street, about a 20-minute drive from downtown Battle Creek.

Sources:
W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, “Arts and Eats Tour,” Oct. 17–18, 2026, https://birdsanctuary.kbs.msu.edu/events/arts-and-eats-tour-18/
W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, “Owl Prowl,” Oct. 22, 2026, https://birdsanctuary.kbs.msu.edu/events/owl-prowl-8/
W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, “Monthly Birding Hike,” Oct. 22, 2026, https://birdsanctuary.kbs.msu.edu/events/birding-hike-4/
Photo: Dwight Burdette, “Canada Geese in Flight over Maltby Lake, Huron Meadows Metropark, Michigan - panoramio.jpg,” Nov. 5, 2012, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), cropped, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canada_Geese_in_Flight_over_Maltby_Lake,_Huron_Meadows_Metropark,_Michigan_-_panoramio.jpg

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