Join The VORTEX for a Roots and Wings event featuring our beautiful Nationally Certified Butterfly Garden and celebrating the life cycle of the butterfly!

Kick-off community parade at 5pm, come dressed as your favorite butterfly or flower and join in! Costume contest at 6:30pm with a fun prize featuring a plant from Tillery Street Plant Company and goods from local businesses.

Enjoy educational fun-tivities for all ages, including making butterfly art, playing games, and more! Alex Cogburn, Keeper of the Butterfly Sanctuary, will unveil new educational placards for our butterfly plants, lead tours of the Butterfly Garden, and interview "The Egg, Caterpillar, Butterfly, and Plant" in a skit that's delightful and informative! Tillery Street Plant Company and They Might Be Monkeys will also talk about native plants and tree care.

Enjoy live music featuring Roland & the Roots Riddim, Tyagaraja Welch of SHE, and pop-ups including Save our Springs, Reggie Rap's Room, Girl Scout Troop 42121, and more!

Refreshments available from The Butterfly Bar @ The VORTEX and Patrizi's Italian Food Truck.

Celebrate nature at Dottie Jordan Park during the Roots and Wings Festival with Urban Forest Explorers! This event offers interactive nature play stations where kids can discover the wonders of roots, mushrooms, rocks, fossils, and bugs. It’s a fun, hands-on experience that invites young adventurers to learn about the hidden treasures of the forest ecosystem!

Join the Neighbors of Dottie Jordan Park & Garden for the 3rd Annual Roots & Wings Festival celebrating pollinators and trees! Tour the community garden, find out where the birds live, and so much more:

• Tree Giveaway!

• Austin Public Library Bookmobile - Sign up for a library card and check out books!

• Austin Public Library Storytime w/ Mr. Gabriel & Ms. Aubrey

• Sing along with Joe McDermott!

• Community Garden Tour - Explore the garden and learn about local plants!

Join us at the Domain for a day of celebrating nature with engaging activities for all ages!

Event Activities:

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM: Soapberry Demonstrations!

• Hands-on Soap-making demos

• Take home a mini sample

• Free soapberries & recipe card with passport completion

1:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Cheerio Bird Snack Craft!

• Make bird-friendly snacks with fun shapes

• Grab a bird-watching guide

2:45 PM - 3:45 PM: Create your Herb Haven!

• Learn to grow herbs for winter

• Free herb seed kits for Central Texas

• Learn from kitchen garden expert & take home a care guide

• Mushroom-splent blocks & soil giveaway

Join us at Chaparral Crossing Farmers' Market for a Nature Celebration event! We will have live music, fun activities and crafts for the entire family, and educational materials about pollinators! Take home a baby tree sapling to plant, courtesy of City of Austin’s Community Tree Preservation!

Chaparral Crossing Farmers’ Market is open every first Sunday, 10a-1p.

Full Gallop's event is back again this year at a new venue that prides itself on preserving its ecosystem and respecting the location and land, Cosmic Saltillo. This event will celebrate Texas Arbor Day and the monarch migration as well as the Dia de los Muertos tradition of Mexico and its ties to the migrating butterflies. Music by Mira Mira.

In case of rain, this event will be held under the awnings of Cosmic Saltillo. Produced by Full Gallop and hosted by Cosmic Saltillo @fullgalloparts fullgalloparts.com @cosmicsaltillo (instagram)

Join us for an exciting and educational event at the Austin Nature & Science Center, featuring D'Andra from Healthy Hive, the non-profit organization behind Me and the Bees Lemonade, and Konrad Bouffard, the founder of Round Rock Honey!

They'll be presenting all about the fascinating world of bees. Learn about these incredible pollinators and their vital role in our ecosystem. Enjoy hands-on activities like seed ball creation and a pollination simulator, get creative with art activities, and craft your own pollinator masks and antennae! Plus, take home a sapling and educational materials to help you care for your new plant! This event is free and open to the public and we'll have bilingual staff present for the outdoor activities.

Únase a nosotros para un evento emocionante y educativo en el Austin Nature & Science Center, con D'Andra de Healthy Hive, la organización detrás de Me and the Bees Lemonade, y Konrad Bouffard, el fundador de Round Rock Honey.

Presentarán todo sobre el fascinante mundo de las abejas. Aprenda sobre estos increíbles polinizadores y su papel vital en nuestro ecosistema. Disfrute de actividades prácticas como la creación de bolas de semillas y un simulador de polinización, sea creativo con actividades artísticas y cree su propias máscaras y antenas de polinizadores. Además, llévate a casa un retoño y materiales educativos que te ayudarán a cuidar tu nueva planta. Este evento es gratis y abierto al publico. Tendremos personal bilingüe presente para las actividades al aire libre.

Please bring your kids ages 5-12 and join Dove Springs Proud to learn about Franklin Park. Each child who attends will be given a cape and a mask to become a park superhero and learn about the butterfly life cycle, help plant trees, clean up the park & learn more about the type of trees in the park as well as enjoy the playground. There will be butterfly-themed art activities & more. Light food & water will be provided.

Rain Date: Sun. Nov. 3rd at 11am.

November is the month to plant new trees.  We are giving away 800 trees at Windsor Park Eco Fest 2024, along with mulch and tree planting training! Any homeowner can get a tree! RSVP Here!

Eco Fest brings together various local climate and neighborhood organizations, along with science, art, entertainment, food and education.

The main program of the event is “Shade the Streets”, which is currently identifying locations in the neighborhood for shade trees, and then giving interested homeowners two native, drought tolerant trees. Our goal is to provide shade over the streets to reduce the heat island effect in Windsor Park. 

Eco Fest features Tree Folks, who are providing the free trees from a partnership with Austin Energy from noon to 3pm! Tree Amigos will be providing tree care and planting for the neighborhood bike lanes and trails, and Austin Energy will be promoting their many energy saving and renewable programs. Congressmen Lloyd Doggett and Greg Casar will be on hand to promote federal tax rebate programs for energy saving appliances and systems, and Citizens Climate Lobby, Austin Sierra Club, Austin Climate Parents, and WP Climate Committee will be providing data and opportunities for involvement. If you are unable to plant a tree, there will be volunteers available to help you.

There will be lots of fun activities for the kids! Austin Creative Reuse will be hosting an arts table for children to make butterflies, Goodwill is hosting a gardening equipment shop, and Urban Forestry will be hosting a kids’ tree climbing and rappelling program! 

RSVP Here!

For more info about Shade the Streets: https://www.windsorpark.info/shade-the-streets/

Rain Date: Sun. Nov 3rd at 12pm

Join Concordia University for an environmental stewardship service event during the City's Roots & Wings Festival 2024!

Participate, discover, and learn the importance of creating sustainable habitats for butterflies and other pollinators! There will be opportunity to plant TX native perennial species and spread wildflower seeds to support and attract pollinators. All are welcome for this life changing adventure!

Join the City of Austin Park Rangers at the Zilker Caretaker Cottage for a Roots and Wings tabling event! This educational event will have activities such as seed ball making, butterfly-themed crafts and games. Come on out and learn all about pollinators!

Help to restore the Country Club Creek Greenbelt by planting native trees with the East Riverside/Oltorf Combined (EROC) Neighborhood Planning Area Contact Team!

We will assemble at the South Pleasant Valley Road Trailhead of the Country Club Creek Trail, and will provide the trees, tools, and supplies. This greenbelt is a wilderness area, so dress appropriately and bring a water bottle!

¡Ayúdenos a restaurar El Cinturón Verde de Country Club Creek! La Asociación de Vecinos de East Riverside/Oltorf Corridor (East Riverside-Oltorf Corridor Neighborhood Association) solicita su ayuda en plantar varios árboles nativos de Texas.

Nos encontraremos en el punto de partida de South Pleasant Valley Road Trailhead del Country Club Creek Trail adonde le proveeremos los árboles, herramientas, y suministros. Este cinturón verde es parte de una zona salvaje. Se les sugiere vestirse apropiadamente para el ambiente y traerse su agua!

Join Red Salmon Arts/ Casa de Resistencia Books for a Roots & Wings Festival Event Series!

During Native American Heritage Month, our Native Roots program activities will center around The Three Sisters/Milpa, (currently growing in our Resistencia Community Garden). We will intertwine indigenous storytelling centering, celebrating corn, harvest songs, and craft corn husk dolls in partnership with Central Texas Cherokee Township!

Join us at the Austin Nature & Science Center for a special volunteer day as part of the Roots & Wings Festival and It's My Park Day! Get your hands dirty and make a real impact on our local environment through hands-on activities. Help us remove invasive species to protect native plants, collect and organize seeds to learn about plant life cycles, and plant vibrant pollinator gardens to support butterflies, bees, and other essential pollinators.

This event offers a unique educational experience and a chance to connect with the community while caring for our natural surroundings. We will have bilingual staff present to lead some groups in Spanish. Don't miss out on this opportunity to enhance our urban forest and make a difference! Spots are limited, so head to the ANSC website to sign up.

Únase a nosotros en el Austin Nature & Science Center para un día especial de voluntariado como parte del Festival Roots & Wings y es el Día de Mi Parque. Ensuciarse las manos y hacer un impacto real en nuestro entorno local a través de actividades prácticas. Ayúdanos a eliminar las especies invasoras para proteger las plantas nativas, recolectar y organizar semillas para aprender sobre los ciclos de vida de las plantas, y plantar jardines de polinizadores vibrantes para apoyar mariposas, abejas y otros polinizadores esenciales.

Este evento ofrece una experiencia educativa única y la oportunidad de conectarse con la comunidad mientras cuidamos nuestro entorno natural. Tendremos personal bilingüe presente para liderar algunos grupos en español.||¡No pierdas esta oportunidad de potenciar nuestro bosque urbano y marcar la diferencia! La disponibilidad es limitada, así que visite el sitio web de ANSC para registrarse.

ArtSmart is a series that looks at different forms of art and storytelling to deepen audiences' connection to their artistic creations. Join the Central Branch for two sessions that look at how butterflies influence many designs and artforms you see throughout Hispanic and Latino cultures, especially during the Dia de los Muertos time of the year! Come ready to create and appreciate the beauty that butterflies bring to art!

ArtSmart is a series that looks at different forms of art and storytelling to deepen audiences' connection to their artistic creations. Join the University Hills Branch for a look at how butterflies influence many designs and artforms you see throughout Hispanic and Latino cultures, especially during the Dia de los Muertos time of the year!

Come ready to create and appreciate the beauty that butterflies bring to art! And parents, take home a free baby tree sapling to raise with your family!

ArtSmart is a series that looks at different forms of art and storytelling to deepen audiences' connection to their artistic creations. Join the Yarborough Branch for two sessions that look at how butterflies influence many designs and artforms you see throughout Hispanic and Latino cultures, especially during the Dia de los Muertos time of the year! Come ready to create and appreciate the beauty that butterflies bring to art!

Session 1: 9:30 am - 10:30 am

Session 2: 10:30 am - 11:30 am

Join us at Yarborough Branch for a morning of imaginative play! Designed for young learners, Imagination Station encourages learning through play. Discover the arts, practice your motor skills, and start your STEM exploration.

This month, learn about a variety of native pollinators, build a mushroom-based world-wide web, learn how trees carry water, learn to be a tree ID hero, and more!

Join us at the Domain for a day filled with fun, learning, and Halloween spirit as we celebrate bats, pollinators, and the magic of nature!

Event Highlights:

Bat Education Booth | 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM

• Partner with Bat Conservation International and Austin Bat Refuge to educate visitors about the importance of bats.

• Learn about local bat species and their vital role in our ecosystem.

• Kids can participate in naming our symbolically adopted bat, represented by a stuffed animal and a certificate from Austin’s Bat Conservation.

Pollinator Garden Workshop | 2:00 PM

• Discover how to create pollinator-friendly gardens at home.

• Receive native plant seeds and step-by-step instructions to build your pollinator habitat.

• Enjoy Halloween-themed plants and decorations to enhance your garden experience.

Bat Crafts | 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM

• Create fun bat-themed crafts suitable for all ages.

Costume Contest & Trick or Treat | 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM

• Join our Halloween-themed costume contest for kids and adults, featuring nature-themed costumes like bats, butterflies, and bees.

• Prizes will be awarded for the best costumes.

• Trick or treat with vendors throughout the market.

• Receive a FREE Trick or Treat bag!

Other dates:

Sunday, 10/20: Harvesting Roots & Fungi: A Farm-to-Table Celebration!

Sunday, 11/3: Birds and Bees Festival: Celebrating Our Pollinators and Feathered Friends!

Join Red Salmon Arts/ Casa de Resistencia Books for a Roots & Wings Festival Event Series!

Cafe Librito: 2024 Dia de los Muertos Festival, Oct. 26th 7pm- 9pm Join us for an evening of honoring our ancestors and cultura! Bring the family to enjoy live music food & drinks, BIPOC vendor market, bilingual kid’s storytime, kid’s crafting, and a guided fungi UV night walk with Central Texas Mycology!

Guests will hand pick flowers from our very own Resistencia Community Garden. Together, the community will build an altar to our ancestors with cempasuchiles, mano de leon, and amaranth flowers.

Everyone is encouraged to leave pictures (copies) and offerings for their loved ones! Goodie bag giveaways include the books, “Papá's Magical Water-Jug Clock” and “Lotli”, native pollinator seed mixes, & cempasuchil flowers for family altars at home.

• 7:00pm: Opening Ceremony

  • Guests can bring their ofrendas for the altar andcut fresh flowers from garden for altar

  • Goodie Bag Giveaway: children books, native pollinator seed mixes, and zines

• 7:30pm: Kids Bilingual Storytime (inside) with Lotli Illustrated Book about the origin of the Monarch Butterfly & “Papá's Magical Water-Jug Clock”

• 8:00pm: Bilingual Fungi UV Night Walk guided by Central Texas Mycology Jesus Garcia

• 8:30 - 9pm: Open Mic poetry

  Ongoing Activities!

BIPOC Vendor Market - Live Music - Arts & Crafts Tables - Mariposa Wings & Seedball Making - Painting Paper Mache Skulls - Baby Tree Giveaway!

———————

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month, November 2nd, 8:30am-11:30am: During Native American heritage month, our Native Roots program activities will center around The Three Sisters/Milpa, (currently growing in our Resistencia Community Garden). We will intertwine indigenous storytelling centering, celebrating corn, harvest songs, and craft corn husk dolls in partnership with Central Texas Cherokee Township!

Join the Windsor Park Branch Library community at its Un-Bee-lievable Pollinators Festival!

This festival event will be a celebration of bees as nature's energetic little pollinators. Bee Keeper Konrad Bouffard, of Round Rock Honey will lead us in learning how bees make honey, how to identify pollens and nectars in honey by taste, and discovering meaningful ways to save bees.

Many other activities include Bee-themed art activities, felt insect masks, wildflower plantings, honey flavor pairings, face painting, seed bombs, Cheetos pollinating activity, fort building, seed/plant swap, bird houses, DIY bee windchime, scavenger hunt and an opportunity to receive a sapling from the Texas Forest Service, plus more! 

Honey Tasting starts at 12 PM

A-bbee’s Native Plant Musical Chairs at 1 PM

Celebrate nature at our Windsor Park Branch during the Roots and Wings Festival with Urban Forest Explorers! There will be a booth at their Un-BEE-Lievable Pollinators Festival featuring interactive nature play where kids can discover the wonders of roots, mushrooms, rocks, fossils, and bugs. It’s a fun, hands-on experience that invites young adventurers to learn about the hidden treasures of the forest ecosystem!

Join the City of Austin Park Rangers at the Zilker Caretaker Cottage for a Roots and Wings tabling event! This educational event will have activities such as seed ball making, butterfly-themed crafts and games. Come on out and learn all about pollinators!

Baby tree saplings will be available for participants to take home, courtesy of City of Austin’s Community Tree Preservation!

Join us at the Hampton Branch for a morning of imaginative play! Designed for young learners, Imagination Station encourages learning through play. Discover the arts, practice your motor skills, and start your STEM exploration.

This month, learn about a variety of native pollinators, build a mushroom-based world-wide web, learn how trees carry water, learn to be a tree ID hero, and more!

Session 1: 10:00 - 10:45 am

Session 2: 11:00 - 11:45 am

ArtSmart is a series that looks at different forms of art and storytelling to deepen audiences' connection to their artistic creations. Join the Milwood Branch for a look at how butterflies influence many designs and artforms you see throughout Hispanic and Latino cultures, especially during the Dia de los Muertos time of the year! Come ready to create and appreciate the beauty that butterflies bring to art!

Join Central Texas Mycological Society & Ecology Action for an evening of family friendly, fungal fun as the Circle Acres Preserve in East Austin will be transformed into a Fluorescent Forest!

5-7pm: Come before dark for mushroom snacks, music, mushroom crafts, and a tree identification tour of the Healthy Soils, Healthy Trees community research project. Participate in hands-on demos to upcycle mushroom blocks at the Myco Research Station, and learn how to divert organic matter from the waste stream and turn it into valuable resources for your home and community.

7-8pm: Guided Tour of Fluorescent Forest & Glow in the Dark Bingo Explore the forest in a new light and discover the diverse, nocturnal ecosystem of the Circle Acres Preserve with UV flashlight to see glowing mushrooms, lichens, night pollinators, birds, insects, plants, and more. This family friendly event will highlight fungi's role in transforming a former dumpsite into a thriving urban forest. Learn how fungi are entangled in the forest helping plants gain water and nutrients, creating the pigments that give flowers their beautiful colors, and helping plants communicate with pollinators. We will have UV flashlights and a mothing set-up so we can attract and see the diverse, nocturnal ecosystem in a new light. Guests will learn how to look for, photograph and be community scientists in adding fluorescing organisms to the iNaturalist project.

We will have mushroom blocks for everyone to take home and upcycle. Mushroom snacks and warm Mush Love Tea provided. Get creative with glowing outfits, face paint and don't forget your camera and tripod.

Space is limited so to reserve tickets, RSVP here. Learn more here about how some plants, mushrooms, lichens and insects have evolved color patterns that are visible in the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic light spectrum, which humans cannot see but many insects, birds and animals can see.

Rain Date: Sun. Oct. 27th

Join us at the Domain for a day filled with fun and learning during the Roots & Wings Festival as we celebrate trees, healthy soil, mushrooms, and the beauty of nature!

Event Highlights:

Tree Planting Ceremony | 12:30 PM
Join us as we partner with local tree-planting organizations to plant trees with our neighbors. Take home a sapling to plant in your own yard.

Tree Identification Tools
Discover how to enhance tree growth using mushroom compost blocks. Booklets and apps available.

Mushroom Compost Blocks | 1:00 PM
Participate in hands-on workshops exploring soil health, urban forests, and the vital role of fungi. Receive free mushroom compost blocks for your tree-planting efforts.

Mushroom Growing Workshop | 2:00 PM
Learn how to cultivate edible mushrooms at home with a live demonstration. Mushroom growing kits will be available for purchase from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM to support sustainability projects.

Art Station | 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Kids can create tree and mushroom-themed crafts, including leaf rubbings and mushroom paintings.

Event Partners: Food to Fork Community, Sustainability Alliance, and Silos Farmers Market

Other dates:

Sunday, 10/27: Batty for Bats & Pollinators: A Halloween Market Celebration with Trick or Treat!

Sunday, 11/3: Birds and Bees Festival: Celebrating Our Pollinators and Feathered Friends!

Join Ecology Action for a kid friendly event! We will be set up near the playground and have hands on activities including making seed balls, planting pollinator plants, and tables for kids to learn about important pollinator species found in the park!

Take home a baby tree sapling to plant, courtesy of City of Austin’s Community Tree Preservation!

Rain Date: Sun. Nov. 3rd, 10am

Join Pease Park Conservancy for Pocket Prairie Workshop, celebrating the 7th Annual Roots & Wings Festival at Austin's first and oldest park!

Prairie & savanna ecosystems are important in Central Texas because they supply important food and shelter for pollinators like butterflies, bees, moths, birds, and bats. The understory trees found in these habitats offer important ecosystem services to humans and animals alike.

🌳 What to Expect: During the learning component, we will take the time to talk about creating Pocket Prairies at home to support our pollinator species, focusing on topics like:

• Healthy soils and ways to support them

• What a Seed Bank is and how to reset it

• Benefits and factors to consider when creating pocket prairies at home

After the brief lesson, we will get in the weeds through a hands-on project, where we will build a pocket prairie in the riparian area of Kingsbury Commons - a part of the park that we are constantly working in to remove invasive species and replace them with those endemic to our region of Central Texas. After the event, we hope you have some more insight into these valuable habitats, and the materials to create your own Pocket Prairie - whether that be a backyard or a balcony - using common materials found at home (recycled boxes, paper). Instruction and resources will also be provided in Spanish to those who need it.

🥾 What to Bring and Wear: Please bring a refillable water bottle to stay hydrated and wear comfortable weather-appropriate shoes and clothing that you do not mind getting dirty. Additionally, please wear long pants and closed-toed shoes. We will provide all necessary materials, including gloves, but you are welcome to bring your own pair.

🚘 Where to Park & Alternative Modes of Transportation: We highly encourage alternate forms of transportation such as walking, biking, public transportation, carpooling, or rideshare when visiting Pease Park. If you drive there is a small parking lot in Kingsbury Commons (1100 Kingsbury Street) and available street parking along parkway. Additional FREE parking can be found at the Austin Recreation Center parking lot (1301 Shoal Creek Blvd) or the ACC Rio Grande Parking Garage (824 W 12th Street). Both of these options connect to Pease Park via a short walk along the Shoal Creek Trail.

🗺 Where to Meet: Once you arrive please meet a PPC staff member at the volunteer hub. This is the large metal building just next to the restrooms and amphitheater. You can get to this spot by following either of the two concrete paths

🌧 Weather: In the event of inclement weather, check your email before heading to the park. We will notify you by email if we need to cancel. Should the event be canceled the expected rain date will be Sunday, October 27th.

RSVP Here! Please let us know if you have any questions or if you think you will no longer be able to attend here. A Note About Pease Park Conservancy Events: If you sign up, please make every effort to show up. Our events are free so all of our community members can attend. But we plan our events to be meaningful for the number of people who register to be there, so please make every effort to attend if you have registered. We understand things come up from time to time, but If you have registered we look forward to having you there! Thank you!

descripción en ingles y español 

Join Latino Outdoors Austin at Guerrero Park in learning about bats through this engaging Read Aloud of "Amara and the Bats".

Throughout this story we will learn all about bat conservation and how amazing they are! We will be reading this story in Spanish and English so bring the whole family to enjoy this bat-tastic tale!

☕️🍪 We will have coffee and treats for the whole family

🦇 There will be activities about bats and more information about these lovely creatures for you to take home after the story

🌳 We will have blankets and chairs for you to be comfortable but please feel free to bring your own

We are excited to host this event and look forward to meeting you soon! 

Please RSVP HERE to attend and receive more information.

¡Únete con Latino Outdoors Austin para aprender sobre los murciélagos a través de esta fascinante Lectura en Voz Alta: "Amara y los Murciélagos"! Durante esta lectura, aprenderemos todo sobre la conservación de los murciélagos y lo increíbles que son. Leeremos esta historia en español e inglés, ¡así que trae a toda la familia para disfrutar de este cuento murciélago-tástico!

☕️🍪 Tendremos café y antojitos para la familia

🦇 Habrá actividades sobre murciélagos y más información sobre estos adorables seres para llevar a casa después del evento

🌳 Tendremos cobijas y sillas para que estén comodos pero estan bienvenidos a traer las tuyas

¡Estamos emocionados por organizar este evento y esperamos conocerte pronto!

Por favor REGÍSTRESE AQUÍ para asistir y obtener mas información.