Big Night and Big Day: Nature Retreats, Big Thought Style

By Mario Tarradell, Public Relations & Marketing Manager

Picture an evening under the stars, mingling with friends, as an urban hardwood forest becomes your panoramic backdrop. Then imagine a bright sunny day filled with adventure in a natural wonderland dotted by wetland and prairie habitat.

That’s Big Night and Big Day – nature retreats, Big Thought style.

Both Big Thought events take place at the sprawling oasis Trinity River Audubon Center, and its gateway to the 6,000-acre Great Trinity Forest, which is the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States.

And yet each has a different mission: Big Night, May 6 from 7-10 pm, is a casual, adults-only shindig aimed at raising funds for innovative programs designed to close the opportunity gap that disproportionally affects our most under-resourced students. At the inaugural Big Night, you’ll enjoy live music by Paradise In the Sun, craft beer and wine, gourmet tapas, and a S’mores bar.

The fourth annual Big Day, kicking off the morning of May 7, is all about the kids. From 9:30 am-1:30 pm TRAC will become a haven for exploration accommodating 1,000 Thriving Minds students and their families. The possibilities are endless – peak into the world inside a pond, check out crawling insects, build a fort-like shelter, track animal waste (that one could be messy!), get up close and personal with reptiles, and embark on a scavenger hunt.

All of this talk about nature, wildlife, forests and even animal poop brings Earth Day to mind. Earth Day is April 22, which commemorates the 46th year of this momentous occasion. Earth Day is about preservation, of course, but also about innovation and inspiration. It’s about leading the crusade for the environment, about never taking for granted what lives and breathes all around us, and always making sure that raw potential reaches its greatest natural peak.

At Big Thought we believe that all children have the seeds of knowledge, imagination and maturity. It’s up to us to make sure those seeds get watered and nurtured so that they blossom.

Big Night and Big Day serve as the creative landscape, as outdoor classrooms primed for teaching moments. The kids – and the adults – are ready for the lessons.

We would like to thank our Big Night Honorary Chairs Marianne and Roger Staubach, as well as Chairs Melora and Bill Leiser, and Co-Chairs Emeka Anyanwu, Alison and DeWitt Corrigan, Giles Davidson, Irene Hosford, Trish Parks, and Ginger Sager. We also express deep gratitude to our many sponsors.