NatureZen Month returns to Overton Park this October, thanks to the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC), to celebrate how nature — and the park — can improve mental and physical health through educational, artistic, and wellness programming.
This will be the third year the Conservancy has hosted NatureZen, the first lasting a week. “Last year we had, I think, 12 [events] on the schedule, and this year we have 21,” says Melissa McMasters, OPC director of communications. “Some of those are series, so it’s actually more.”
Every Wednesday, for instance, guests can participate in free yoga sessions near the Formal Gardens from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m., and later in the afternoon at 4:15 p.m., the Conservancy will host Wednesday Walks starting near the Rainbow Lake parking lot.
“We’ve added a lot more of the guided nature walks,” McMasters adds. “We’re kind of exploring different topics. We have one [on October 18th at 2 p.m.] that is with a pollinator specialist [Jennifer Payne], and she is going to help people winterize their gardens, answering their questions and telling them how to create a good space for pollinators, even during the winter. … I am personally excited about all of our Songbird Strolls. We have several coming up this month, and it’s such a fun time of year to be even a beginning bird-watcher because all the birds are flying south for the winter.”
The Songbird Strolls, the next of which is Friday, October 10th, at 8 a.m., are led by Fields Falcone, OPC’s stewardship manager and local birding legend. “She’s also in rock band,” McMasters says, “so she is so tuned into the music of the birds that she can hear them from forever away, and it’s just so fun to go and experience the forest through her ears.”
Other NatureZen Month highlights include nature journaling on Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m., starting October 14th, and the annual Fall Fetch Fest at Overton Bark on Saturday, October 11th, which brings on the puppy love, with Hollywood Feed giveaways, a pet costume contest, a dog photo booth, a cartoonist, food trucks, adoptable dogs, and, for the first time, weenie dog races.
“One of our main programming goals is to help people meet someone new,” says McMasters. “And it’s about connecting with nature and learning about this ecology that surrounds us that we might have just tuned out, but we want to do that in the presence of people that we may not know and really connect with other humans as well. … And so this is a really special time for us to meet new people and tell the story of why the park is so important to Memphis.”
Most of NatureZen Month’s events are free to attend or pay-what-you-can, with suggested donations between $3 and $5. For a full schedule of events, visit overtonpark.org/naturezenmonth.
NatureZen Month, Overton Park, October, overtonpark.org/naturezenmonth.