<i>Family Fun Fest - Career Fair: 1878</i>

Date: April 2, 2008
Contact: Gary Bremen, 305-230-1144, x3084

What do you want to be when you grow up? Today’s career options seem limitless, but for pioneers living in late 19^th Century South Florida, the choices were more restricted…and the work was hard. Biscayne National Park’s April Family Fun Fest will bring five jobs to life with Career Fair: 1887. The popular free event takes place from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 13, 2008 at the park's Dante Fascell Visitor Center. Stations located around the visitor center provide a variety of interactive and hands-on activities highlighting five careers, including:

• Sponger — Harvesting sponges can be a real workout!
• Wrecker — Use ropes and pulleys to unload a wrecked ship!
• Farmer — Ever tried planting pineapples in an island made of solid rock?
• Turtler — Practice turtle identification, and learn how hunting led to sea turtles becoming endangered species.
• Lighthouse Keeper —Hear about the adventures of lighthouse keepers from a very proper young lady on her way from Key West to "Cocoanut Grove."

Participants will receive a paper passport to be punched at each station as they complete the activities. Those who complete all five activities will earn a special button to help remember the day, and those who earn five buttons in a season will receive a Family Fun Fest Fanatic award in May.

This month’s Family Fun Fest also includes the premiere of a collaborative piece of artwork created at last month’s Biscayne Bay-bies event. Participants fashioned miniature collage seahorses that were added to a mixed media backdrop created by fiber artist Maya Schonenberger. The resultant piece is now part of the park’s permanent art collection.

Family Fun Fest takes place on the second Sunday of every month from January through May. The series is made possible through a grant from the Captain Bob Lewis Boat Center Yamaha Billfish Challenge and the Bobby Duryea Memorial Fund at the South Florida National Parks Trust. Additional support this month comes from the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves, and a host of dedicated volunteers.

In 2008, each Family Fun Fest event will focus on a different aspect of the park’s resources. The final event for 2008 will be held on May 11, with the theme Mangrove Mania. Photographs taken at the events will be posted to the park’s website.

The Dante Fascell Visitor Center is located at 9700 SW 328 Street, nine miles east of Homestead, Florida. Call 305-230-7275, extension 0 for more information.