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Hundreds of years ago, settlers marveled at the wide-open prairies in North Texas. Today, most of those grasslands have been replaced by cities and towns. The Botanical Research Institute of Texas will recapture the vibrancy and history of the North Texas landscape at the second annual Prairie Day event, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, May 19, at BRIT’s headquarters, 1700 University Drive, Fort Worth, 76107.
Prairie Day celebrates the beauty of the North Texas native landscape through a series of family-oriented, hands-on events that showcase the native grasses, wildflowers, and vegetation blanketing the BRIT site. Maintaining and researching native landscapes is part of BRIT’s ongoing conservation effort. BRIT’s 70,000-square-foot, two-story research center received the highest sustainability award possible from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2011, the Platinum LEED certification.
Entertainment will be provided by the Katie Keenie Band, a country-western band, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Lone Star Bar-B-Que will serve lunch for $5.
Other activities planned for Prairie Day include:
- Tours of BRIT’s living roof exhibit
- Log Cabin Village paper flower making, spinning, toys and games
- Experts in period costumes will be on hand
- Cowboy Poet Lanny Joe Burnett
- Historical marker tours
- Native prairie history and lectures
- Guided plant walks on the BRIT campus
- An authentic chuck wagon exhibit
- A binocular station to get a close-up look at plants on BRIT’s living roof
- Lectures on invasive plants and local prairies
- Plant preservation studio tours
- “Important Life of Bees” by the Texas Association of Beekeepers
Saturday, May 19, 2012 Prairie Day Schedule:
10:00 a.m. - Bear Claw Singers
10:30 a.m. - Invasion of the Prairie Snatchers, by Gary Hinds
11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. - Cowboy Poet Lanny Joe Burnett
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Lunch served by Lone Star Bar-B-Que ($5)
11:30 a.m. & 12:00 p.m. Guided plant walks
12:30 - 1:00 p.m. - Open Spaces: the Dynamic Prairie of the Cross Timbers Ecoregion, by Ann Mayo
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. - Katy Keenie Band
