SPANISH FORT, Ala. — With exactly six weeks until the second annual Delta Woods and Waters Expo showcases the natural beauty and utility of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, organizers took a moment Monday to honor one of the event’s youngest—and most prolific—contributors.

Bailea Roberts, a fourth-grader at W.J. Carroll Intermediate School in Daphne, was recognized during Monday’s City Council meeting for her painting, “Night in the Delta,” that has been transformed into a poster promoting the 2010 expo.

Slated for April 29 through May 1 at Five Rivers Delta Resource Center, the expo’s theme of “Discovering the Delta” aims to familiarize locals and visitors alike with the wealth of ecological and environmental lessons available in Spanish Fort, while helping develop what many believe can easily become the city’s signature event. The expo is designed to expose area youth to the virtues of environmental consciousness and importance of marine safety, while simultaneously addressing the city’s long-range goal of creating a communitywide event that defines and unites its residents.

Roberts was one of several hundred fourth-graders who submitted poster designs for consideration, but her twilight depiction of the delta, complete with alligators and moonlight, captured a visual essence the judges hope will resonate with members of the community as the fledgling festival continues to gain traction.

Expo Chairwoman Claudine Andress said organizers acknowledged early in the planning process for the event’s second run that the lack of a branded identity handicapped the inaugural event.

“But we didn’t just want something drawn up in an office somewhere by somebody who doesn’t understand what it is we’re trying to do. And since we’ve always driven home the fact that this expo is designed to help educate our children and teach them from the earliest ages about the beauty and wonder this natural world around them has to offer them, we decided to let the children help us design the identity,” Andress said.

The expo’s first two days will cater exclusively to fourth-graders from Spanish Fort, Rockwell and Daphne Elementary schools as well as W.J. Carroll, where all students will participate in each of the eight round-robin activities focusing on everything from mall boat handling, kite making, and local wildlife to kayaks, canoes and racing hulls.

Saturday’s Family Day will feature the same eight activities plus new additions such as hiking, fly casting and yarn making.

Andress said organizers are still searching for a live musical act to perform Saturday, and the expo will host a cooperative ice cream social on the grounds of Five Rivers in conjunction with Spanish Fort’s May 1 Small Cities celebration. Area churches, she said, will provide the ice cream.