Biscayne Baybies <i>Family Fun Fest</i>

Date: March 4, 2008
Contact: Gary Bremen, 305-338-6584

March is Seagrass Awareness Month, and Biscayne National Park’s Family Fun Fest celebrates with a look at the seagrass meadows of the park’s namesake, Biscayne Bay. This month’s installment of the popular free event is titled Biscayne Bay-bies, and takes place on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at the park's Dante Fascell Visitor Center from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Stations located around the visitor center provide a variety of interactive and hands-on activities, including:

• Dolphin Fingerprints — Identify the bay’s dolphins by their distinct dorsal fins on an imaginary boat trip.
• Who’s Your Daddy? — Create a work of art featuring the Bay’s most devoted father: the seahorse.
• Who’s in the Crib? — Meet some seagrass residents up close and personal!
• Chain Chain Chain! — Learn about producers, herbivores and carnivores in the Bay as you build a food chain.
• The Great Prop Scar Caper — Investigate boat groundings to determine "whodunit."

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.

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, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and a host of dedicated volunteers.

In 2008, each Family Fun Fest event will focus on a different aspect of the park’s resources. Future events include:

• Career Fair: 1878 — April 13

• What did people do for a living on Biscayne Bay 130 years ago?

• Mangrove Mania — May 11

• All trees are terrific, but mangroves are MAGNIFICENT!

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.