International Festival of Owls back in southern Minnesota this weekend

HOUSTON, Minn. - The International Festival of Owls is expecting around 3,000 visitors to Houston, Minnesota, for the three-day event. 

The event is hosted by the International Owl Center in Houston, Minnesota. The festival started 29 years ago as a hatching party for a Great Horned Owl named Alice. The festival became so popular, in 2015, organizers decided to open what is considered to be the first and only owl education center in North America. 

"There’s nothing like this anywhere else. There’s a wolf, eagle center, bear center, crane center. There’s no all owl education center in the United States, so we decided to do that in Houston," Executive Director of the International Owl Center Karla Bloem said. 

Bloem said visitors can expect to see live owls, owl-inspired artwork and hear from speakers visiting from Norway, Czechia and Nepal. The festival also includes a medallion hunt and art contest. For this year’s kid art contest, the center received nearly 4,000 submissions from kids in more than 30 countries. 

Bloem says she believes the fact that owls are smart, elusive and beautiful have captivated humans for centuries. 

"I think it’s because we don’t really get to experience them much, other than hearing them, so I think there’s a lot of mystery around them. That, and I mean, they’re so cute," Bloem said. 

The International Festival of Owls is happening from Friday, March 1 through Sunday, March 3. Find more information here.