 Hello everyone, I'm Alicia Anderson and welcome to the Fort Report. Did you know that Fort Worth has 160 acres of remnant prairie, which is one of the most diverse prairies in Texas? Well, you can experience your local prairie at the 9th annual Prairie Fest. The wildflowers are peak blooming at the time of Prairie Fest. There's over 500 varieties of native plants out here at Candy Hills. It's a beautiful place to take a hike because the elevations go from high to low. So we lead guided wildflower tours for the public and we also have a special area for kids that's put on by a group called Prairie Keepers and they have science nature based hikes for kids and lots of other activities for kids. They also have 50 green vendors, storytellers, local food vendors and solar powered live music. Wait, what is solar powered music? Here at Candy Hills Park there's no electricity and we put on this big festival, we have a stage with performers, music and other activities and we have to have electricity to do that. So starting at our second festival in 2007 we contacted a local company that provides solar power and they bring out a trailer with solar panels on it and point them up at the sun and that generates enough electricity for us to power our stage all day long. The pro seed from Prairie Fest will go right back into the park for conservation and education programming. We bring hundreds of fourth graders out here from area low income schools and they have about a half day or longer science based field trip here. Our program is aligned with the National Science Foundation and Texas State Standards. So the kids get a really good education out here, an exposure to nature, good exercise, fresh air. It's been a very successful program. If you want to know more about native plants you can get Debra's new book. Prairie Wildflower is illustrated which is 120 page book of wildflower illustrations. Prairie Fest is bike friendly and leash dogs are welcome so experience the greenest festival in Texas. For more information visit Tandyhills.org. A week after the Prairie Fest, Mayfest will be by the river. One of the things that we're most excited about is that we're bringing activity back into Trinity River with the paddle boats that you can ride on the river. And also new is a wonderful dog and pony show. It's not just an expression, it really is a dog and pony show and it's called Mutt-Pallaca and it's rescue dogs which are near and dear to our heart and then they have Dixie the pony who likes to paint and I wonder if it talks but it does some really wonderful things. Another favorite for Mayfest is our Mayfest run that always happens on the Saturday of Mayfest. It's an absolutely beautiful picturesque run through Trinity Park ending in Mayfest festival grounds where there will be a big party so we're hoping that everybody comes to that. Tom Thumb Children's Area, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Carnival with a lot of rides and more than 60 shopping booths will be there as usual. Oh and don't forget Carnival food. We're going to be doing our first Best of the Fest Festival Food Contest. We'll have John Bonnell and Bud Kennedy there to be judging and you're going to know who the winners are because they'll have an award and ribbon on their booth. Also new to Mayfest is a beer garden brought to us by Roar Brewery which is right here in Fort Worth. Mayfest is a fundraiser that helps improve a quality of life for Fort Worth citizens. This to date has given back $6.5 million to make Fort Worth a better place to be. Visit the Mayfest website for more information and their Facebook page for promotional savings. Here's a look at other events happening in and around Fort Worth in the next few weeks. For a listing of more events you always can check the website.