A Peek At Peak Color

You won't be-leaf how beautiful it is.

Pelican Rapids, MN — Our warm days and cooler, longer nights are setting up the region for a very special display of fall color this year.

That’s what Minnesota Department of Natural Resources people are saying about the changing leaves.

And at Maplewood State Park near Pelican Rapids, they’re getting ready for one of the region’s most beloved fall traditions this weekend.

Park Manager Don De Greco says the annual “Leaf Days” celebration at Mapleton State Park draws about sixteen thousand cars per day.

People come to hike, to picnic, and to get great photos of the different species of tree.

Some of them, like the sugar maples that give the park its name, are on the very edge of their natural range in Minnesota.

The park boasts not just the changing colors of the hardwood forest, but also of the prairie grassland restoration project in the park, several years in the making.

Some of the grass is eight feet high and creates a totally different colorway than the trees do.

It also attracts an entirely different set of wildlife species to its habitat.

Del Greco visited live on the Morning Show about what to look for when you go not just in nature but also in the crafts and activities available at Leaf Days, what to expect in terms of parking and accessibility, and how to tell whether you’re in “peak color” time.

For more information:

https://friendsofmaplewood.org/events#:~:text=Leaf%20Days%20Weekend%20is%20September,or%20at%20the%20entrance%20gate.