As development gobbles up farmland, fens and natural prairies across Illinois, a Westchester group is about to celebrate one of the remaining pristine areas in its own backyard.

Members of Westchester-based Save our Prairie Society will host their often annual Nature Arts and Heritage Faire from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7. The event, marked by arts and crafts, an antiques appraisal event and fur trader exhibits, will be hosted at 11225 Constitution Drive, at Wolf Road Prairie and the historic Prairie House.

“We have one-one hundredth of 1 percent of high-quality prairie left in Illinois,” said Valerie Spale, executive director of Save the Prairie Society. “That is a staggering loss of natural features. Before settlement, Illinois was 70 percent natural prairie — in about 1832.”

Wolf Road Prairie is a designated national natural landmark. Spale said the society hopes to bring attention to the area and educate fairgoers about the importance of natural prairies in Illinois, and the marked reduction in high-quality prairies throughout the region.

“The whole idea is to showcase the site,” she said. “It’s just getting people out and making them aware of how important it is to save natural areas so those who came before us are not forgotten.”

Featured at the event will be site tours and a mural of Wolf Road Prairie will be on display by artist Susan Van Horn, a Western Sprigs resident. The mural depicts the prairie from the time of the glacier’s retreat approximately 12,000 years ago through the present day. A fur trader exhibit might be joined by a Civil War-era exhibit, but volunteers with the Civil War exhibit still are determining their availability, Spale said.

Antiques appraiser Loretta Harwood will be onsite to provide oral appraisals of visitors’ personal items. Appraisals of one item will cost $5, while 10 items may be appraised for a $3 charge per item. Visitors are encouraged to bring items they think may be antiques.

Spale said visitors also can take in folk music and attend an “attic treasures” sale during the fair.
According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, a prairie is a type of grassland, and typically exist on gently rolling or flat areas.

During 1820, Illinois maintained 22 million acres of prairie and 14 million acres of forest land, according to IDNR.

Prairies mostly are confined to the northern two-thirds of Illinois, with forested areas found in the southern one-third.

But by 1900, IDNR documents show that most of the state’s prairies had vanished. Much of the land was used for agricultural purposes. And by 1978, fewer than 2,300 acres of high-quality prairie remained.

Many of the modern-day prairie sites are along railroad rights-of-way, in pioneer cemeteries, or in locations found unsuitable for farming, according to IDNR.

The Nature Arts and Heritage Faire has been hosted for six or seven years, Spale said, and admission is free.

“The event is focused on the prairie and the history in our area,” she said. “Once it’s gone, you can’t bring it back.”