For a decade-spanning stretch of autumns, the Gulf Coast Nature Expo made its home at the Five Rivers Delta Resource Center. Then, in 2025, the South Alabama Land Trust moved its free, family-friendly celebration of conservation to a new stage: Weeks Bay Plantation in Fairhope, a sprawling former blueberry farm that proved to be exactly the kind of backdrop the event deserved.
The move was more than a change of address. It placed the expo on private land that had only recently opened to the public, among farmland and forest, and gave the region’s conservation groups a canvas big enough for raptor shows, marine touch tanks and the thousands of small moments that turn a child’s curiosity into a lifelong interest in the natural world.
A Working Farm Becomes a Classroom
Weeks Bay Plantation, previously a private blueberry farm, offers the spacious, scenic setting the expo needs — open ground nestled among fields and woods on the Eastern Shore. Its co-owners, Heather and Tynes Stringfellow, welcomed the event with a sentiment that captures why landowners and land trusts make natural partners.
“We’re honored to host this year’s Nature Expo at Weeks Bay Plantation,” Heather Stringfellow said when the move was announced. “We believe in SALT’s mission to connect people to nature and protect the beautiful landscapes that make this region so special. Opening our land to the community for a day of learning, fun, and exploration is something we’re proud to be a part of.”
What the Expo Offers
The expo’s program is built to occupy families for a full day, running from morning into early afternoon. Live raptor shows put birds of prey — the kind of wildlife most people only glimpse at a distance — close enough to study feather by feather. Marine life touch tanks bring the estuary’s creatures within reach of small hands. Interactive nature exhibits and creative arts activities round out the lineup, all hosted by local nonprofit and government organizations working to protect the region’s natural resources.
Those partner organizations staff booths throughout the grounds, where visitors can learn about their missions and how to get involved — from water-quality monitoring groups to habitat restoration volunteers. Food trucks keep everyone fueled, and admission is free, with attendees encouraged to reserve spots so organizers can plan for the crowd.
Thirty-Five Years of Protecting Land
The expo is a showcase for the organization behind it. The South Alabama Land Trust, founded in 1990 as the Weeks Bay Foundation, marked its 35th anniversary in 2025 with a mission that has stayed constant: protecting land in its natural state before it is lost. The organization supports the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve — established in 1986 and managed by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources with NOAA — and works with landowners across coastal Alabama to conserve sensitive habitat.
That work happens in ways most residents never see: negotiating conservation of priority parcels, holding land until it can pass into state protection, and helping landowners understand the ecological value of what they own. Events like the Nature Expo are the public-facing half of the mission — the part that builds the constituency conservation depends on.
“We’re about protecting land at the water’s edge,” as SALT’s outreach staff puts it — a fitting description for an event held beside Weeks Bay, where the Fish River and Magnolia River watersheds meet Mobile Bay.
Why It Matters
Coastal Alabama is developing quickly, and every year brings more pressure on the marshes, pine flatwoods and shoreline habitats that define the region. A free expo that lets families hold a horseshoe crab, watch a hawk, and meet the people doing conservation work is one of the most cost-effective investments a land trust can make in its own future.
The Land Trust invites community members to support that future by becoming Land Guardians — supporters who help protect and preserve Alabama’s coastlines for the generations that will inherit them. And each fall, at Weeks Bay Plantation, the invitation comes with live raptors, touch tanks and the smell of food trucks on the breeze: proof that connecting people to nature can start with a single fun Saturday outside.