Events and Recreation



Upcoming Events KBR Kid's Day on Buffalo Bayou The second annual KBR Kids Day on Buffalo Bayou will be held on June 14, 2008! Mark your calendars for a day filled with family fun, educational activities, music, food, dazzling park performers, and bayou boat rides on the Bayou Breeze! This event is Free to the public. Location: The Sabine-to-Bagby Promenade Parking: City Lots H and C Time: 10am-2pm Kids Day Bayou-rific Activities... Touch tanks with native animals Bayou boat tours Wetland hikes Bayou scavenger hunts Kayaking demos with REI Bat games and fishing lessons with TX Parks & Wildlife Soccer games with the Houston Dynamos Basketball activites with the Houston Rockets Live Music with Mr Habitat Wildflower plantings in the bayou prairies Face painting, balloon twisting, and jugglers! For more information, please email jballard@buffalobayou.org or call (713) 752-0314 ext 4 Past EVENTS: NIGHTS ON BLUE BAYOU-STARGAZING Friday, May 9 from 6-9pm Downtown’s Sabine Promenade (between Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive) Join us for evenings under the stars at downtown’s waterfront park, the Sabine Promenade. Star gazing will be the theme for this series, second year in a row, to include the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Discovery Dome planetarium, George Observatory volunteers and their telescopes, balloon artist, storytelling and boat rides. Bring a picnic or purchase food and drinks on site. Blankets and lawnchairs, canoes or kayaks are encouraged for optimal stargazing. Free parking is available at City Lot H (next to Fonde Recreation Center at Sabine Street and Memorial Drive) and Lot C (Memorial Drive and Houston Street) and paid parking at the Hobby Center for Performing Arts at Bagby and Walker. This is the second year of nighttime activities throughout the year to highlight the downtown waterfront park as the night unfolds and the dramatic trail lights appear. The award-winning blue lights will reveal the bridges, trails and water of the park and changes in tandem with the phases of the moon. The park along the banks of Buffalo Bayou features jogging and biking trails, lush landscaping, canoe launch public art and a new pedestrian bridge. SPONSORS Continental Airlines http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/company/advertising/logos.asp BIRDING ON THE BAYOU Sundays, April 20 (Tour filled) April 27 (Tour filled) 9-11am East End Trails (April 20) and Japhet Creek (April 27) Free (limited to 15 – reservations required) Keep Buffalo Bayou wild! Join birder and Houston Ornithology Group member Michael Williams as he highlights the variety of birds that call Buffalo Bayou home. April 20 will focus on a dense area along the bayou trails east of downtown – Scott Barnes, BBP’s Director of Conservation, will also join the group and point out unique flora and fauna. April 27 birding hike to take place at Japhet Creek – a green finger along Buffalo Bayou – “green fingers” are expanded portions of the bayou that reach into surrounding neighborhoods establishing green links. Before the birding tour, Jim and Eileen Ohmart, head of the Japhet Creek Association, will give an overview of restoration along this area as well as creating pedestrian friendly connections from the historic Fifth Ward neighborhood and schools to the Buffalo Bayou hike and bike trail system. TRASH BASH 2008 March 29 8:30am-1:30pm Grab those old shoes and mucky clothes and head down to the bayou for a day of trash clean-up pandemonium! Meet at the Sabine to Bagby Promenade for registration and then head out for a couple of trash-filled hours. Return to a scrumptious hot dog lunch complete with entertainment and PRIZES! For more information on the Sabine to Bagby clean-up site, click here. For more information on Trash Bash, click here. CASE Kids Day on Buffalo Bayou April 18, 2008 “Kids Day on Buffalo Bayou” is the Buffalo Bayou Partnership's inaugural youth environmental education program. This program is developed in partnership with the Harris County Department of Education’s Cooperative for After-School Enrichment (CASE). Through the Partnership’s CASE Kids Day program, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership is reaching out to the youth of Houston, and educating them about their connections to our city's historic waterway, Buffalo Bayou. The students' 8-part after-school sessions cover a full range of topics on our city's history, culture and environment. The Buffalo Bayou after-school program culminated in the first Kids Day on Buffalo Bayou event on November 29, 2006. Two-hundred Houston-area students traveled to Buffalo Bayou where they: • Tested its water-quality • Examined native plants and wildlife • Examined an urban storm-water outfall where they learned how to place a litter-collection boom to protect the waterway • Planted wildflower seeds on bayou prairie slopes • Learned how to restore a wetland for plants and animals • Learned how wetlands clean our waterways and sustain our cities • Participated in a pollution-round-up on Buffalo Bayou's parklands • Created pine cone treats for wildlife Through this program, the Partnership will empower our city's future leaders to become educated and responsible environmental stewards. The students are in the 3rd-6th grades, and for the program’s first year, approximately 200 students were educated. The Partnership plans to expand this program to reach more local students every year. read more here