It’s great outdoors at Wolf Lake

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Giovanni Flores of Chicago adjusts his skis during the 11th annual Winter Wonderland celebration near Wolf Lake in Hammond, Ind., on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. | Jim Karczewski~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: January 25, 2012 4:19PM

Visitors to the recent 11th annual Winter Wonderland at Wolf Lake in North Hammond and Chicago found themselves with plenty to do.

Afternoon sessions took place on the Illinois side of Wolf Lake at the Southeast Sportsman Club on Avenue M.

Morning sessions were scheduled at the Environmental Education Center on Calumet Avenue in Hammond.

“Our family has never been on skis, but we wanted to try the cross-country ski event,” said Luz Flores of Chicago as she and her husband, Jose, and their three children waited their turns to suit up. “We like to do spontaneous things on the weekends, and this trip to the Environmental Education Center today was one of them.”

The bi-state event, sponsored by the Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative, is conducted each year during the weekend of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Before gliding on the snow outside the Environmental Education Center , the Flores family and other attendees were treated to various programs.

“Birds of the Watershed” was presented by Walter Marcisz of Chicago.

“For the past 10 years, I’ve studied this area and found 215 species of birds,” he said

Besides the lectures, poster contest winners were announced. The mission of participants, who are students from Indiana and Illinois schools, was to draw what they think of regarding activities on and around Wolf Lake.

Itsel Marquez, 11, of Chicago placed first in the competition.

“I thought of the fun at the lake when it was warm, people having a good time, and then drew that,” she said after picking up her winning check. “And, I’ll save the money I won for college. I want to be a teacher.”

Also during the event, Illinois resident Les Marszalek displayed more than 100 American Indian artifacts. His long tables set up in the Environmental Education Center displayed various arrowheads and other ancient objects.

Marszalek, a member of the AWLI, began collecting items in 1972, when he discovered sites in southwest Chicago. He also teaches programs at Sand Ridge Nature Center in South Holland, Ill., pertaining to American Indians.

“Over the years, I’ve found more than 100 archeological sites throughout the south side of Chicago,” he said. “For three years, when I began, I found nothing. Then, when I found my first broken arrowhead, I wanted to share it.

“I gave it to my teacher at Moraine Valley (Community) College, and this experience prompted me to continue to try. I knew there was more yet for me to discover.”

Marilyn Martin of Calumet City is particularly interested in Marszalek’s finds, as she comes from a family of American Indians.

“These arrowheads and other things can tell us a lot — how our people lived and worked many years ago,” she said. “My family has nothing that was handed down to us, so I’d like to start my own collection.”

Several young people from the Rising Stars Academy program in Gary also tried skiing.

“I’m a little nervous; I’ve never done this before,” said Kalesa Dalton, 15. “But it looks like fun, so I’ll try it anyway.”

Shakyra Hope, 14, wasn’t apprehensive about her first attempt.

“I’m excited to do something different,” she said about cross-country skiing. “I don’t think it will be too difficult, at least I hope not.”

The girls’ friend Timothy Wall, 16, was realistic about his new adventure.

“I know it won’t be easy to learn how to ski, but it’s worth trying,” he said. “We’ll make it fun.”