Making a Difference

Starts With You

Friends members bring together a love of nature and environment to enhance experiences, educate visitors and help maintain our beloved state parks.

We love nothing more than seeing a park full of nature-loving visitors at Turkey Run and Shades State Parks! They’re consistently ranked as some of the best state parks in the country and Turkey Run’s Trail 3 was recently named the best hiking trail in the midwest by Midwest Living magazine!

HIKING, CAMPING, INN and CABINS, SWIMMING, PICNICING, CANOEING, PROGRAMS, DINING, NATURE CENTER, SHOPPING

2024 Summer Concert Series!

〰️

2024 Summer Concert Series! 〰️

Music in the Park

With the success of last year’s music events held at the Turkey Run amphitheater, our Friends group is thrilled to be hosting another Summer Concert series filled with various styles of music. Bring your lawn chairs and blankets to the area behind the Turkey Run pool for an evening outdoors shared with other music and nature lovers. This year the Friends group will also be selling campfire cuisine with hot dogs, chips, drinks and local Amish-made Whoopie Pies so plan to come for dinner.

Know of any band or musician who would like to be part of our concert series? We’re still working on a fall line-up to be able to keep the music going during those gorgeous autumn evenings. If you’d like to know more about our concert program please email us at: turkeyrunandshadesfriends@gmail.com

Memberships and renewals…just

click and join!

Our “Party in the Parks” events held in both Shades and Turkey Run State Parks to celebrate the Eclipse on April 8 were incredible gatherings!

It was a picture perfect day with clear skies and warm temperatures that drew families from as far away as Hawaii to experience the rare celestial event. Lawns were full of blankets and lawn chairs, kids playing frisbee, dogs lounging. The beauty of our trails was enjoyed by happy hikers who hurried back to open skies to view the headline event of the day -when the moon passed between the earth and the sun creating a memorable moment of awe.

Our Friends group served food and drinks, helped visitors enjoy sun-themed crafts, sold “Eclipse (Whoopie) Pies” and invited children to spin their own cotton candy…all wildly popular activities.

We received countless compliments and thanks from attendees who declared the day to be full of “memories to last a lifetime!”

It was “TOTALITY” amazing!

A Side Note to our Eclipse Party Event…

Volunteers and park staff gathered the day after the big parties expecting to have a full day of clean-up after such large crowds. However, there was very little clean-up to do! Our visitors left our beautiful parks…well, beautiful! We were all thrilled to realize that most of our attendees love nature and our parks as much as we do. It shows that our programs and educational efforts to teach stewardship and respect for our natural resources are working! Thanks to all who attended!

AND…

A HUGE thank you to all the volunteers who made the day PERFECT

Our Organization

FRIENDS OF TURKEY RUN AND SHADES STATE PARKS (FTRSSP)

Find out about our mission, methods, and the results of our years of advocacy.

What we do

““Working with the Friends group makes me feel a bit of ownership of these remarkable parks... like I get to see ‘behind the scenes’ of Mother Nature’s greatness.””

— Friends Member

Take Action

Ready to take the next step? You can become a contributor to our cause, or participate yourself by becoming an active member.

Find Out How

Our parks,

Turkey Run and Shades

〰️

Turkey Run and Shades 〰️

Our Friends group is lucky enough that we get to help with not one, but two of the best, most beautiful state parks in Indiana. We like to say “Same creek, same Friends.”

Sugar Creek and its tributaries flow through both of our parks and are credited with the awe-inspiring canyons, cliffs and waterfalls along their rocky shores. As temperatures soar, floating on tubes, canoes or kayaks are popular attractions.

Hiking is another activity that brings visitors to our parks. In fact, both parks are ranked high for having some of the best trails in the midwest.

Shades is often referred to as the more laid-back of the two parks. It boasts spectacular views, natural springs, and rock formations along its miles of trails. It offers primitive campsites and picnic shelters for those looking for a quieter setting. Shades also has some of the darkest skies in Indiana making it attractive to astronomy enthusiasts.

Turkey Run is the second state park formed in Indiana in 1916 to preserve its glacial formations and heavy forestation. The park boasts a number of historic structures and examples of construction done by the CCC in the mid 1930s. Accommodations offered are the Turkey Run Inn and cabins, campgrounds both primitive and electric, and shelter houses for day use.

May Programs In The Parks

Eagles In Flight 2024!

〰️

Eagles In Flight 2024! 〰️

Our 2024 Eagles weekend was a grand success with the Friends auction bringing in nearly $7,000 which will go directly into the parks we all love. A HUGE thank you to all of our donors and buyers!

Despite the foggy start to the mornings, many dedicated eagle enthusiasts gathered for the annual roost watch.

Mark Booth and his birds of prey presentation are always a favorite.

Long-standing Friends members, Jean Turnmire and Peggy Foster helping out in the auction room.

Plan it.

Check out all the great programs offered through the Indiana Department of Natural Resources!

DNR Interpretive Programs

Co-chairs for the 2024 Friends auction, Deb Foxworthy and Marianne Ballenger were happy with the results of this year’s bidding.

Most of the visitors on the nest tour got to see eagle pairs actively prepping or even sitting on their huge eyries

A juvenile eagle did a fly by to check out the action

On your mark...

Your day, your time, your choice

Ongoing events in the parks

Hiking, picnicking, horseback riding, canoeing and kayaking, fishing, swimming pool, historic sites, nature center, ball courts, camping and lodging, dining

6 Ravine Challenge at Shades

5 Mile Challenge at Turkey Run

Hoosier Quest

Turkey Run’s own Dave Morris crafted and donated incredible wood creations to the Friends auction.

A committee of Black-Headed Vultures kept track of the nest visitors at Lake Waveband

Happy auction winners

Join us.

Ready to become a Friend of Turkey Run and Shades State Parks? We’d LOVE to have you! Meetings are held every third Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Nature Center at Turkey Run.

SEE YOU THERE!

GALLERY

Share your shots!

We want to see your spring shots! Simply email your favorite images from your visit to turkeyrunandshadesfriends@gmail.com and check back often to see if you made the gallery! Be sure to include your name so we can give credit where credit is due!

Images copyright Anita Gerrish

Member Musings…

Spring is here…

By Jean Turnmire

The first Snow Trillium are blooming! Time to get out and search for those first delicate Harbinger's of Spring! Yes, that really IS the name of one of our tiny, delicate, early Spring flowers. Every year, since I was a child, I have hiked the hills and creek beds here at Turkey Run. I was introduced to the wonders of Wildflowers by my mother on a Spring Break trip here in the 50's!

As the Naturalist at that time took us on a Wildflower hike along Sugar Creek, he pointed out Yellow Violets…wait Yellow??? I thought Violets were named for their color?! But NO- here at Turkey Run we have many colors, not just violet colored violets! Yellow, white, blue, blue and white and purple! That hike was the beginning of a lifelong love of Wildflowers!

Every year around Maple syrup time, I start to search for the first signs of spring wildflowers. Usually by March first, I'll find the tiny Snow Trillium, about the size of my thumb, blooming on the hillsides over Sugar Creek. These elegant flowers will be followed by dozens more...Spring Beauty, Blood Root, Dutchman's Breeches, Red Trillium, Celandine Poppy, Virginia Bluebells, Yellow Trout Lily, Fire Pink, Mayapple, Jack in the Pulpit and Giant White Trillium Grandiflorum. Each is a wonder of Nature!

Come join us at the parks to wander the trails in search of Spring. I'll be out here! Come join in the FUN!

All our Naturalists and I will be be leading Wildflower Walks and Talks where YOU, too can discover the JOY of Wildflowers!

This year we will feature Wildflower experiences April 13-21 when the flowers carpet the forest floor. We'll also host Garlic Mustard pulls and Invasive Species Days when you can help eliminate these dangers to our pristine woods and the Native plants that make our State parks so priceless. Come Enjoy and Help our Friends Group keep our parks beautiful!