Prairie Notes are monthly photo/journal observations from Tandy Hills Natural Area by Founder/Director, Don Young. They include field reports, flora and fauna sightings, and more, mixed with a scoop of dry humor and a bit of philosophy. They are available free to all who get on the FOTHNA email list.

Prairie Fest Summary

Prairie Notes #41

March 28, 2010

By several measurements the 2010 Prairie Fest was the most successful one yet. Most importantly, a successful Fest helps us achieve our purpose:

To facilitate use of Tandy Hills Natural Area as an education and recreation resource for experiencing and understanding the natural environment of predevelopment Fort Worth.
To increase awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving natural areas.

First and foremost to saving and protecting special places, is getting people to know they exist. There has to be appreciation of the beauty and understanding of their importance.

That is exactly why Prairie Fest was founded in 2005 and why we keep producing the festival. Your continued support as a visitor or volunteer at Prairie Fest and as a year-round supporter of Friends of Tandy Hills is essential to "keeping it like it was." The attached survey was designed for exhibitors but please us it to send us your comments as a visitor.

Here are a few facts about Prairie Fest 2010:

Attendance was in excess of 4,000 people, the largest to date.
The number of Exhibitors (114) and Sponsors (28) exceeded all previous years.
Prairie Fest was listed on at least 100 websites. (see attached list)
Prairie Fest ads or profiles were in at least 9 hard copy magazines and newspapers. (see attached Word.doc)
Prairie Fest was advertised on NBC-KXAS TV-5 and profiled on KERA Radio-TV. (see KERA video on the FOTHNA website)
The City of Fort Worth cable TV channel filmed and broadcast a profile of Tandy Hills Natural Area. (see FOTHNA website)
More than 2,000 fliers and 300 posters were distributed all over north Texas.
Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area and Prairie Fest was the featured charity at Whole Foods Market in April and received extensive in-store publicity, email and website promotion by WFM.
To minimize our environmental impact and to demonstrate and promote renewable energy, both performance stages were solar-powered again in 2010. Additionally, we added a bicycle corral, electric vehicle shuttle, trail signs and maps and dog watering stations this year. The PrairieLand family area was expanded and enhanced in.
Hundreds of people took hikes with Master Naturalists or went on their own.
Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area and Prairie Fest are now officially partnered with the City of Fort Worth.

Thanks again for helping make 2010 the best Fest yet!

Don Young
Event Director