This year's La Riviere Raptor Festival will have some local flair. The annual event's set for this Saturday, and will see the release of a rough-legged hawk, which was discovered with an injured wing near Portage la Prairie in November. Co-organizer Evelyn Janzen says now that the bird's recovered, they're excited to be releasing it back to its natural habitat.

"Now he's ready to be released. They've had the veterinarians and volunteers looking after him, and bringing him back to health and he's a bird that can be released, so will be. That's happening at ten o'clock in the morning, the same time the doors open. I think it's very excited to see this happen. We've never done this before."

The goal of the event's to raise awareness of Manitoba's predatory bird species, and well as educate the public on the importance of habitat conservation for the province's birds of prey. Information sessions, photo opportunities and even guided bird watching walks will all be included in the day.

The festival's been going for five years now, and Janzen says they've seen significant growth over the years, adding she hopes to see the trend continue with this year's event.

"The first event, we had about 125 people, and last year, which was year four, we had 575. We're hoping to hit the 600 mark this year. It's people from all over southern Manitoba, last year we had some people from Saskatchewan, and the year before that we had people from northern Ontario. It's growing every year."

The event takes place between 10 am and 4 pm Saturday, at the Blair Morrison Hall in La Riviere.