 Hello everyone, I'm Alicia Woodruff and welcome to the Fort Report. Can you imagine what Fort Worth looked like 100 years ago? Friends of Tandy Hills have been promoting the Tandy Hills Natural Area, which is a 160 acre indigenous remnant of prairie. You can experience it at the Prairie Fest in East Fort Worth. The main event here is the wildflower show. We think by Saturday to 27th it will be covered in yellow flowers, purple. This year we have I believe 10 bands performing and we also have a couple that are storytellers that are going to be here this year and they'll be doing trailside storytelling down the trail mainly for kiddos and also for adults. A group of master naturalists from Nature Center led by Susan Tuttle will be giving tours mainly for adults in addition to children's hikes. The hikes are science based more or less so that the kids actually learn something while they're having a good time. And of course one of the main lessons we like to teach them is how special Tandy Hills is, how rare prairies are in general, so they get to look at all types of nature things. There will be 40 exhibitors featuring local nonprofit groups and sponsors with nature oriented and environmental themes. Also, you can purchase food and beverages of all kinds. One of the most interesting things going on at Prairie Fest this year is the National Weather Service in cooperation with NOAA who will be here launching weather balloons at the festival. The festival is from 11 a.m. to sunset and don't forget it's a dog and family friendly event. It's the best place to see wildflowers. Indigenous prairie, there's not any other places like this in Fort Worth. That's right, prairies in general are extremely rare now and they're almost all gone. It's 160 acres prairie park and we have here Tandy Hills, it's kind of like a living museum. All of the profit from the Prairie Fest will directly go back into the park and friends of Tandy Hills two main initiatives, kids on the prairie program and conservation efforts. Our agenda really is to start igniting interest in conservation in children real young so they'll be brought to protect these green spaces. For more information about Prairie Fest and volunteer opportunities just visit tandyhills.org. Shopping, food, music, entertainment, a zipline, carnival, dog show, kids activities, cake on a stick, confetti eggs, it has to be a Mayfest. Fort Worth's favorite family festival is coming back in a big way with some of their family favorites such as the American Duck Races where they can actually hold ducks and let them race in addition to sandpile creations which created an absolute masterpiece showcasing Fort Worth last year but we do have a surprise for everyone and that is a 7,000 gallon live shark exhibit. Yes, there will be sharks at Mayfest this year and it will be quite fun and interactive with an entire show built around it. Four days of fun start on May 2nd and you don't want to miss Mayfest run on Saturday the 4th at 7.30 a.m. Runners come back every year because they love the picturesque running route that takes them through beautiful Trinity Park and ends in the heart of Mayfest with a really fun party and we'll have music and food and entertainment in addition to awards being presented so this really has become the fun run for Fort Worth. Mayfest is a fundraiser that helps to improve the quality of life for Fort Worth citizens through improving the parks in addition to community outreach such as Kids in the Kitchen program which is an outreach for area schools to fight obesity. Mayfest once begun as a celebration of the beautification of Trinity Park in the Trinity River and what happened after that is the fact that in 41 years Mayfest has been able to give back $6.3 million to the community. You can purchase your tickets online at mayfest.org but you don't have to stop there. Mayfest wouldn't happen without the thousands of volunteers that come out to the festival every year. We have some people that have been returning for well over 10 or 15 years but if you haven't volunteered yet now's the time to do it go to mayfest.org click on be a volunteer and it's so easy you can sign up to work in various areas throughout the festival there are shift times and dates visit the Mayfest website or 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 and city meetings you always can check the calendar at the city's website.