With special arts funding from New York state, the creation of two new costumes for this year’s Enchanted Forest at the Audubon Nature Center is nearing completion.

“We are so excited to be adding a praying mantis and a lightning bug to our wonderful collection of human-sized animal costumes,” said Katie Finch, Nature Center naturalist and event coordinator. “Our costume designer, Pam Moran, has done her usual amazing work, and we couldn’t be happier with the results!”

Finch described the Enchanted Forest, to be held on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2 and 3, as an opportunity for children and accompanying adults to have a fun – but not scary – experience during the fall season. The evening begins with stories and songs at a backyard campfire. Then participants are escorted around a luminary trail by volunteer “fireflies” who light the way with lanterns. Larger-than-life-sized animals tell about their lives, sharing information through stories. After about a 45-minute walk, there are refreshments and crafts inside.

In 2012 the state Council on the Arts Decentralization Regrant Program also funded costumes for the Enchanted Forest. The program is administered by the Cattaraugus County Arts Council.

Pam Moran, who designed and created the costumes, is a kindergarten through fifth grade art instructor at Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School. Moran was a co-founder of Das Puppenspiel Puppet Theatre, a nationally acclaimed puppet company in which she performed across the country and coordinated hundreds of workshops ranging from puppet construction to script and production development.

Friends of the Nature Center can make reservations now for the Enchanted Forest; non-members can reserve beginning Saturday, Sept. 12. The fee is $12, $8 for Friends of the Nature Center, $6 for children 3-15, and free for children two and under.

School groups, including day care and home schoolers, are invited to learn from Enchanted Forest creatures during Discovery Walks that can be scheduled between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 29, through Thursday, Oct. 1, and then again the week of Halloween, Tuesday, Oct. 27, through Friday, Oct. 30. For more information on the one-and-a-half-hour walks, to which can be added extra time for a building visit and lunch, visit www.audubonprograms.com/fieldtrips. Schools that participate in BOCES Co-Ser 438.010, as many Chautauqua County schools do, the field trip may already be in the budget.

Pre-registration with payment is required to reserve a specific time slot from 6 p.m. through 8 p.m. Tours begin every 10 minutes. Deadline for registration is Friday, Sept. 25; there will be no ticket sales at the door.

To register, call 569-2345 or print and mail the online registration form at www.audubonenchantedforest.wordpress.com. Tickets will be mailed upon receipt of payment by cash, check or Visa/MasterCard/Discover.

Forecon is a major sponsor of the Enchanted Forest, as well as Michaels. Additional sponsors are Kings’ Heating, Carroll Rod and Gun Club, The Johnson Agency Inc., Stanton’s Garage, Daryl Huber/Huber Blacktop LLC, and Busti Cider Mill. Sponsorship information is online at www.audubonenchantedforest.wordpress.com/sponsors.

The Audubon Nature Center is at 1600 Riverside Road, one-quarter mile east of Route 62 between Jamestown and Warren. To learn more about Audubon and its programs, call 569-2345 or visit www.jamestownaudubon.org.