• Artist Doug DeLind with his masterpiece.

MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Recently, Harris Nature Center had their Turtle Toast event full of live music, a spread of food, the unveiling of their new turtle, and of course, what would a turtle toast be without a toast!

Harris Nature Center approached artist Doug DeLind to make a turtle out of cement, which is a material that DeLind wasn't as experienced with. But like most artists, he took on the challenge.

"Patty Robbins asked me to do it and like a fool, I said I could," DeLind said.

With some rebar, some tiles, and a lot of cement, DeLind was able to bring this big vision to life.

"It's so big I think I may contact the Guiness Book of World Records on this one," DeLind said.

This turtle may be big, but Director Julie Moore said it's just a sneak peak for what is yet to come. Harris Nature Center is in the works of building an exploration area in hopes to get the community more involved.

"We're celebrating Doug DeLind's turtle sculpture which is the first installment of our larger Nature Exploration Area," Moore said.

This new exploration area will be partnered with a lot of great new programming and allow the naturalists to do more hands-on teaching with their visitors to get them more engaged.

"So a big tree house up in the sky is going to be fun to climb up, but it can be tied to programming about birds and life in the canopy," Moore said.

Plans have been made for the exploration area and community members are encouraged to help put these plans into action.