Tick Wise Education Hosts Art Hike For Tick Bite Awareness In Riverhead - 27 East

Arts & Living

Arts & Living / 1331172

Tick Wise Education Hosts Art Hike For Tick Bite Awareness In Riverhead

icon 4 Photos

author on Jun 19, 2018

On Sunday, June 24, Tick Wise Education will host its first Art Hike for Tick Bite Awareness, sponsored by East End Tick & Mosquito Control.

April Nill-Boitano, the president of Tick Wise Education, is passionate about increasing children’s awareness of ticks. She travels across the East End to schools to teach kids about how to spot ticks and how to be safe.

She created Tick Wise Education after Brian Kelly, the president of East End Tick & Mosquito Control, advertised for a substitute teacher to write curriculum to educate children. “Since children are the ones who are more likely to be playing in the grass, he thought it would be a good idea to start a program for them,” Ms. Nill-Boitano said.

Ms. Nill-Boitano wrote the entire curriculum herself. The first program she did was an educational puppet show in 2015 at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. She uses a mixture of PowerPoint presentations, hands-on activities, and games to educate and engage the kids. One particularly interesting activity she does with kids is putting small pieces of gummy bear in a piece of carpet and having kids feel for the bumps, simulating searching a pet for ticks.

Ms. Nill-Boitano started a poster contest three years ago to even further engage kids and encourage creativity. The children create educational posters about how to prevent tick bites. The winners in the past have had their posters hung in Suffolk County legislative offices, with support from Legislator Bridget Fleming.

For this year’s contest, Ms. Nill-Boitano wanted more visibility for not only the winning posters, but the runners-up as well, and thus she created the Art Hike. The hike will include posters that won honorable mentions along the trail and will showcase the winning posters at the end.

She doesn’t stop there; Ms. Nill-Boitano has also secured spots in kiosks at Suffolk County parks to hang the winning posters for the summer season, increasing their visibility and potential to inform park-goers.

The poster contest winners will also receive some exciting prizes, including a grand prize of six tickets to Splish Splash water park in Riverhead, though Ms. Nill-Boitano is more concerned with education.

“By getting these kids young, it’s like teaching them a foreign language,” Ms. Nill-Boitano laughed. “They know more than their parents!”

The Art Hike for Tick Bite Awareness will be held at Indian Island Park on Route 105 in Riverhead on Sunday, June 24, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visittickwise.org or call 631-258-8235.

You May Also Like:

Saxophone Luminary Jane Ira Bloom Brings Her Quartet to The Church

Acclaimed soprano saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Jane Ira Bloom will bring her boundary-pushing all-star ... 5 Jul 2025 by Staff Writer

Tickets on Sale for East Hampton Library’s 21st Annual Authors Night Fundraiser

The East Hampton Library will host its 21st Annual Authors Night fundraiser on Saturday, August ... 4 Jul 2025 by Staff Writer

Tales Told in Sound: Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Celebrates Its 42nd Season

The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival (BCMF), Long Island’s longest-running classical music festival, returns this summer ... by Staff Writer

Santi Debriano’s Bembé Arktet Brings Global Jazz Fusion to Sag Harbor

Hamptons Jazz Fest continues its summer season with bassist and composer Santi Debriano and his dynamic ensemble, Bembé Arktet, on Friday, July 18, at 6 p.m. at The Church in Sag Harbor. Panamanian-born and Brooklyn-raised, Debriano is a powerful force in Afro-Caribbean jazz, known for his work with legends like Archie Shepp, Randy Weston and Freddie Hubbard. With Bembé Arktet, he blends complex polyrhythms, folkloric melodies and modal improvisation into a vibrant sound that is both deeply spiritual and rhythmically propulsive. The ensemble’s name draws from “bembé,” an Afro-Cuban sacred celebration of drumming and dance, which reflects the group’s mission: ... by Staff Writer

Joy-Ann Reid to Speak in the Hamptons at ‘Equality Matters’ Lecture, Part of Stony Brook’s ‘Thinking Forward’ Series

Journalist, author and Emmy-nominated broadcaster Joy-Ann Reid will headline “Equality Matters in the Hamptons” on Thursday, July 17, at 6:30 p.m. at the Avram Theater at Stony Brook Southampton. The event, moderated by Ken Miller, is part of the “Thinking Forward Lecture Series,” presented by the Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center (The Center) in cooperation with Stony Brook University. The series aims to educate, inspire and foster dialogue on important cultural and social issues. A limited-space VIP reception will be held at 5 p.m. and includes a signed book by Reid. Reservations are available at stonybrook.edu/reid. Reid is best ... by Staff Writer

Ted Hartley To Be Inducted into Hamptons Artist Hall of Fame, Exhibit at Hamptons Fine Art Fair

Artist Ted Hartley will be inducted into the Hamptons Artist Hall of Fame during the ... 3 Jul 2025 by Staff Writer

Sara Nightingale Gallery Debuts Rose Cameron’s Dreamlike ‘Forever. For Now.’ Exhibition

Sara Nightingale Gallery will present a solo exhibition by artist Rose Cameron titled “Forever. For ... by Staff Writer

Childhood Friends and Authors Scott Johnston, Michael Cannell Discuss New Books at Bridgehampton Barnes & Noble

Authors Scott Johnston and Michael Cannell, longtime childhood friends who grew up on the East ... by Staff Writer

Artists Go Off-Map in ‘Having a Long Coarse Daunting Peak’ at LTV Studios

“Having a Long Coarse Daunting Peak,” an exhibition of color, urgency and unmapped terrain curated ... by Staff Writer

Supporting a Biodiverse Future: David Loehwing and Kevin McDonald in Conversation at The Church

The Church will host David Loehwing and Kevin McDonald for a talk on Saturday, August ... by Staff Writer