Maine DIFW: Media Invited to This Weekend’s Becoming an Outdoors-Woman Workshop
More than 100 women from Maine and beyond will be converging on Camp Caribou in Winslow this weekend for the 16th annual Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) workshop.
The media is invited to attend any part of the three-day introductory skills workshop, which runs Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.
The workshop, sponsored by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Friends of Maine BOW, teaches women to be more competent, confident and aware when enjoying the outdoors.
Participants will take part in a variety of classes based on their interests including ATVing, campfire cuisine, canoeing, kayaking, nature photography, trip planning and packing, firearms use and marksmanship, fly tying, freshwater fishing, outdoor survival, self-defense, bow hunting, outdoor writing and blogging, knot tying and more.
All classes during the weekend are taught by volunteers. Some women will be coming to the workshop this weekend for the first time, while others are returning participants.
Class sessions run on Friday from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., Saturday from 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. At least nine classes will be going on during each session.
Members of the media who come are asked to check in at the Main Lodge at Camp Caribou.
Participants stay at the camp, located on a 200-acre peninsula on Pattee Pond, throughout the whole weekend, sleeping in cabins and eating meals in the dining lodge.
BOW is part of a national program that was created in 1991 after a study concluded women preferred to learn about hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities in a non-competitive atmosphere with like-minded women.
More than 20,000 women attend about 80 weekend-long BOW workshops held annually in at least 40 states, several Canadian provinces and New Zealand.
Hundreds of women from across the state and as far as Texas have taken advantage of Maine’s BOW program and the unique classes it offers each year.
If interested in covering the weekend workshop or for more information about BOW, contact Emily MacCabe at Emily.MacCabe@maine.gov or 207-462-1017 or Caroline Hailey at Caroline.Hailey@maine.gov or 207-215-0292.
