Witness Series: With Gratitude
2025-11-22 09:00 - 11:30 UTC | YOLANDA BLACK NAVARRO BUFFALO BEND NATURE PARK
Join BBP’s 2025 Artist-in-Residence, Kristi Rangel, for The Witness Series in green spaces along Buffalo Bayou East and explore the bayou’s rich history, engage with its natural elements, and reflect on themes of environmental equity.

With Gratitude: Pop-Up Community Art Show and Artist Talk
Join us in celebrating the closing of the 2025 Witness Series with a Pop-Up Community Art Show. This unique community art show will feature nature journals from attendees of the Witness Series events at Yolanda Black Navarro Buffalo Bend Nature Park. The works created by artists Maverick and Kristi Rangel will also be displayed. Photographer, Joe Robles IV, will curate a survey of photos he has taken during the series. A facilitated artist talk will take place highlighting the activations in the Buffalo Bayou Partnership green spaces during this year’s Witness Series. Light bites and refreshments will be provided for attendees.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SERIES

Participating Artists & Partners
Erandi Trevino
Houston Audubon
Joe Robles IV
Kristi Rangel
Latino Outdoors Houston
Maverick
Nature Heritage Society – Houston
The Raices Collab Project

Generous Support for this program provided by

Buffalo Bayou Partnership is

2025 Houston Witch Paddle
2025-11-02 10:00 - 14:00 UTC | ALLEN’S LANDING, 1001 Commerce Street, Houston, TX, 77002, United States
**Rescheduled for Sunday, November 2**
Inspired by the growing popularity of “witch paddles” nationwide, Taylor Chapman and New Climate Ventures are hosting Houston’s second annual Witch Paddle. Wear your finest Halloween witch or wizard attire and paddle down Buffalo Bayou!
Duration
10am – 2pm / 3.5 miles
Meeting Location
Allen’s Landing Park (1005 Commerce St)
FREE REGISTRATION
Buffalo Bayou Partnership is in support of the Second Annual Houston Witch Paddle. Rain date is Sunday, October 26.
Kayak Rentals: Buffalo Bayou Kayak Tours
2024 Witch Paddle – Photo by Peter Warren, Houston Chronicle.

Witness Series: Drawing Strength
2025-10-18 09:00 - 11:30 UTC | YOLANDA BLACK NAVARRO BUFFALO BEND NATURE PARK
Join BBP’s 2025 Artist-in-Residence, Kristi Rangel, for The Witness Series in green spaces along Buffalo Bayou East and explore the bayou’s rich history, engage with its natural elements, and reflect on themes of environmental equity.

Drawing Strength: Nature Journaling
Nature Journaling is a worldwide movement that integrates art, science, and nature exploration. Nature journaling makes you a better observer, naturalist, and artist and opens a world of beauty and discovery. Join artist Maverick for an outdoor sketching class in this calming environment that is designed to reduce stress and create an increased connection to nature. The Nature Heritage Society will lead nature studies, allowing attendees to better understand the park’s unique ecosystem made up of restored wetlands and woodlands. A limited supply of journal and sketching pencils will be provided for participants.
This park was named in memory of Yolanda Black Navarro, a committed civic leader from the East End who served Houston for decades. She founded the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans and received numerous accolades for her leadership in her community. Attendees will learn more about her legacy, while learning to observe and capture details of what they see in nature.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SERIES

Participating Artists & Partners
Joe Robles IV
Kristi Rangel
Maverick
Nature Heritage Society – Houston

Generous Support for this program provided by

Buffalo Bayou Partnership is

Sculpture Unveiling | Rust Garden: A Triad Harmony by Preston Gaines
2025-09-27 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | JAPHET CREEK PARK, 4600 Clinton Dr, Houston, TX, 77020, United States
Date: Saturday, September 27
Time: 10am – 12pm
Location: Japhet Creek Park (4600 Clinton Dr)
Parking: Japhet Creek Park and 122 Emile St.

Join us for a morning of art, ecology, and community as we unveil Rust Garden: A Triad Harmony, a temporary sculpture exhibition by BBP 2024 Artist-in-Residence Preston Gaines. Installed at Japhet Creek Park in Houston’s historic Fifth Ward, this immersive installation reimagines floral forms as sculptural mosaic totems, blending cultural heritage, environmental storytelling, and collective memory.
Throughout the event, fellow Houston-based artists will activate the space:

Kristi Rangel, BBP’s 2025 Artist-in-Residence, will guide a poetic prompt walk centered on nature, ancestry, and reflection.
Brittany Mayfield, founder of Foliage Faerie, will present a site-specific floral installation echoing the themes of botanical identity and personal memory.

Enjoy complimentary coffee and pastries as you explore the site and connect with the local art and Fifth Ward community.
Rust Garden: A Triad Harmony will be on view through January 15, 2026.
FREE REGISTRATION

About the Artwork
Rust Garden: A Triad Harmony is a public art installation by Preston Gaines, rooted in the landscape and legacy of Fifth Ward. Weaving together local cultural heritage, ecological awareness, and visual storytelling. The project draws inspiration from the quilting practices of Gee’s Bend, where African American women transformed necessity into artistry, and reinterprets those traditions through oxidized steel and floral forms reflecting the neighborhood’s layered cultural identities.
From Black-Eyed Susans symbolizing justice in African American gardens, to Marigolds from Hispanic traditions, to Cherry Blossoms signifying renewal in Asian cultures, the sculpture becomes a botanical mosaic of shared identity.
Together, these forms compose a sculptural tapestry, echoing the park’s natural rhythms while honoring the community’s past and future. Designed to be experienced from both close-up and afar, offering different experiences from pedestrian paths, park trails, and nearby streets. Its scale and composition are designed to evolve with light and shadow, echoing the creek’s natural rhythms. Rust Garden: A Triad Harmony serves as a sculptural landmark that honors Fifth Ward’s past while affirming its ongoing transformation.
About the Artist
Preston Gaines is a Houston-based architect, designer, and artist whose practice explores the intersection of nature, technology, and public memory. As founder of Inanimate Nature, he leads a multidisciplinary studio dedicated to reimagining ecological narratives through immersive installations, functional sculpture, and community-based design. investigating the use of technology to re-establish our connection to the earth and nature through design.
Gaines’ recent work includes exhibitions with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Project Row Houses, and ION District’s EyeOnArt program. His sculptural environments invite viewers to move beyond passive observation and into a space of resonance, reflection, and transformation.
While any built environment can have a physiological effect on the viewer, Gaines seeks to transcend the physical and activate a deeper psychological response, invoking emotion, memory, and a renewed connection to place.

Generous support for this program provided by

Buffalo Bayou Partnership is

Sunset Bird Walk along Buffalo Bayou
2025-09-21 18:00 - 19:30 UTC | ALLEN’S LANDING, 1001 Commerce Street, Houston, TX, 77002, United States
Discover the diversity of birdlife in our urban environment through a guided walking tour along Buffalo Bayou for Houston Audubon’s Bird Week!
Expert guides from Houston Audubon will help you spot and identify a variety of species and share fascinating insights and fun facts about their behavior and habitat. From Great Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets to Osprey and Neotropic Cormorants, there is abundant birdlife to explore!
Location
Meet at Allen’s Landing Downtown (1005 Commerce St)
Time
6 – 7:30pm
Cost
Free
What to know
We encourage you to wear comfortable shoes and bring water and binoculars.
Before the walk, join Houston Audubon at downtown’s Frost Town Brewing from 5-6pm for the launch of Shorebird Shandy. This special brew is a tart and sweet shandy made with persimmon and lemon and was created to raise awareness of our local shorebirds.
Free Registration

Sunset Bird Walk along Buffalo Bayou is in partnership with

Witness Series: Preserve Memories
2025-09-13 09:00 - 11:30 UTC | HIDALGO PARK, 7000 Avenue Q, Houston, TX, 77011, United States
Join BBP’s 2025 Artist-in-Residence, Kristi Rangel, for The Witness Series in green spaces along Buffalo Bayou East and explore the bayou’s rich history, engage with its natural elements, and reflect on themes of environmental equity.

Preserve Memories: Artmaking with Dried Flowers
Since its founding at the Turning Basin, Hidalgo Park has been at the center of the East End’s cultural and civic life. Neighborhood residents raised money to purchase the park’s original land and sponsored the creation of its unqiure quiosco (gazebo). Join us in the park’s gazebo for several hands-on workshops using dried flowers, known as flores inmortales (immortal flowers). Attendees are encouraged to bring their own dried flowers that they wish to preserve and arrange. Artist Britanny Mayfeild will give pointers and insights on the art of dried flower arrangement. Pressed flower poetry sessions will be offered.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SERIES

Participating Artists & Partners
Brittany Mayfield
Joe Robles IV
Kristi Rangel

Generous Support for this program provided by

Buffalo Bayou Partnership is

In the Weeds Walking Tour
2025-08-16 09:00 - 10:30, 2025-07-19 09:00 - 10:30, 2025-06-21 09:00 - 10:30, 2025-05-17 09:00 - 10:30 (America/Chicago) | LOST LAKE, 3422 Allen Parkway, Houston, 77007, United States
Join in Summer Species, BBP’s annual celebration of a native plant or animal found along Buffalo Bayou!
This year, our In the Weeds Walks will explore native plants and the insects that pollinate them along Buffalo Bayou! Follow along this discovery tour of Houston’s historic waterway ecosystem with Nancy Greig, founding director of the Cockrell Butterfly Center (now retired). An avid natural historian “jack of all trades”, she has particular interest in plants and insects, but birds, mammals, herpetofauna, and fish are all on her radar. At home she keeps busy with a butterfly garden, honey bee hives, and purple martin houses.

Cost
12 and over: $5
Children under 12: free
Duration
90 minutes
Meeting Location
Lost Lake, just below Flora Restaurant (3422 Allen Parkway at Dunlavy)
Parking is recommended at the 300 block of Jackson Hill Street off Memorial Drive. More information available here.
Walking tours are 90 minutes and cover approximately 3 miles. Comfortable clothing, good walking shoes, and a water bottle are recommended.

REGISTER

Witness Series: Drawn to Nature
2025-05-17 09:00 - 11:30 UTC | YOLANDA BLACK NAVARRO BUFFALO BEND NATURE PARK
Join BBP’s 2025 Artist in Residence, Kristi Rangel, for The Witness Series in green spaces along Buffalo Bayou East and explore the bayou’s rich history, engage with its natural elements, and reflect on themes of environmental equity.

Drawn to Nature: Building Community through Observation
Yolanda Black Navarro Buffalo Bend Nature Park is a scenic park with restored wetlands and woodlands. This intimate 10-acre park is the perfect inspiration for nature journaling. Join artist Maverick and learn how to keep a nature journal in this calming environment. Nature journaling helps reduce stress and makes you a better observer, naturalist, and artist and opens a world of beauty and discovery. The Houston Audubon will provide tutorials on drawing birds found along Buffalo Bayou. A limited supply of journals and sketching pencils will be provided for participants.
This park was named in memory of Yolanda Black Navarro, a committed civic leader from the East End who served Houston for decades. She founded the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans and received numerous accolades for her leadership in her community. Attendees will learn more about her legacy, while learning to observe and capture details of what they see in nature.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SERIES

Participating Artists & Partners
Houston Audubon
Houston Public Library
Joe Robles IV
Kristi Rangel
Latino Outdoors Houston
Maverick

Generous Support for this program provided by

Buffalo Bayou Partnership is

Witness Series: Grow with Grace
2025-03-09 09:00 - 11:30 UTC | JAPHET CREEK PARK, 4600 Clinton Dr, Houston, TX, 77020, United States
Join BBP’s 2025 Artist in Residence, Kristi Rangel, for The Witness Series in green spaces along Buffalo Bayou East and explore the bayou’s rich history, engage with its natural elements, and reflect on themes of environmental equity.

Grow with Grace: Indigenous Wisdom through Native Wildflowers
Join us in exploring Japhet Creek Park, home to a historic bayou tributary and the future key connector between the Fifth Ward and the Greater East End. Attendees will engage with bilingual writers, visual artists and environmentalists, as they meditate on the natural world around us through a facilitated walking meditation. They will also discover facts about the native wildflowers planted throughout the space and the role they play in ensuring a healthy ecosystem. Artist and Community Activist, Erandi Trevino, and members of The Raices Collab Project will lead hands-on container garden making workshops designed to empower and excite participants about green spaces in their own backyards or porches. All workshop attendees will leave with their own wildflower garden.

Participating Artists & Partners
Erandi Trevino
Joe Robles IV
Kristi Rangel
The Raices Collab Project

Japhet Creek Park Opening Celebration
2024-09-21 11:00 - 14:00 UTC | JAPHET CREEK PARK, 4600 Clinton Dr, Houston, TX, 77020, United States
Date: Saturday, September 21
Time: 11am – 2pm
Location: Japhet Creek Park (4600 Clinton Dr)
Join us for an opening celebration for Japhet Creek Park! We’re inviting the community to the newly completed neighborhood park on Japhet Creek, a historic Buffalo Bayou tributary in Houston’s Fifth Ward. Bring your lawn chairs, picnic blankets, and family and friends to enjoy a day in the park with performances from local musicians, including Step Rideau & The Zydeco Outlaws, food and drinks, face-painting, community organizations and vendors, and fun activities for all.

Schedule
11:00am: Remarks with Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Rich Kinder, Chairman of the Kinder Foundation
11:30am: Ribbon cutting followed by the Wheatley High School Marching Band and Cheer Squad
12:00pm: Performance by local band Step Rideau & The Zydeco Outlaws
1:15pm: Performance by piano prodigy and TikTok sensation Traevon Narcisse
1:30pm: Tunes with KTSU

RSVP

Buffalo Bayou Partnership recently completed construction on the first phase of the Japhet Creek Park improvements, featuring new trails, wildflower meadows, and lawns for gatherings and events. Part of BBP’s Buffalo Bayou East 10-Year Plan, the second phase of the Japhet Creek project will include a creekside trail leading to a bayou-crossing pedestrian bridge connecting to Tony Marron Park to the south.
LEARN MORE ABOUT BUFFALO BAYOU EAST

Inauguración del Parque Japhet Creek

Date: Sábado, 21 de Septiembre
Time: 11am – 2pm
Location: Parque Japhet Creek (4600 Clinton Dr)
¡Celebre con nosotros la inauguración del Parque Japhet Creek! Invitamos a la comunidad al recién terminado parque vecinal en Japhet Creek, un histórico afluente de Buffalo Bayou en el Fifth Ward de Houston. Venga con sus amigos y familiares para disfrutar de un día en el parque con música y actividades divertidas, deliciosa comida, y mucho más!
Se recomienda registrarse, pero no es obligatorio.
Inscríbase

Buffalo Bayou Partnership ha finalizado recientemente la construcción de la primera fase de las mejoras del Parque Japhet Creek, que incluye nuevos senderos, praderas con flores silvestres y césped para reuniones y eventos. La segunda fase del proyecto de Japhet Creek, que forma parte del plan a 10 años de Buffalo Bayou East de BBP, incluirá un sendero junto al arroyo que conducirá a un puente peatonal que cruzará el bayou y conectará con el Parque Tony Marron, situado al sur.
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Gracias a nuestros socios:
