Community Calendar

Keep the kids engaged over winter break at Winter Glass Camp! In this one day camp, students work side-by-side with our talented instructors to learn the basic techniques of hot glass as they create projects in the Glass Blowing, Torch Working, and Kiln Fusing studios.

Open to ages 12-18. No previous experience necessary. Space is limited so act quickly if you’d like to embark on this epic glass art adventure with us!

Birds and Coffee
Saturday, January 3, 10 am – 12:30 pm

Audience: Adults

Meet: Visitor Center Main Lot

Without the leaves on the trees, winter is an excellent time for birding. Come ring in the new year by getting out for a guided bird walk at 10:30 am and buy a piping hot drink from Emergency Coffee Rescue to keep warm on the trails.

Local partners will also be on-site with hands-on gear demos and expert advice. Stop by the tables from Norman Camera and Wild Birds Unlimited to try out equipment, compare birding essentials, and chat with folks who know the best tools to support your birding passion.
Start your year outdoors, caffeinated, and surrounded by community.

Fee: Included in regular KNC admission; drop in program

Getting Glacial
Saturday, January 3 at 2 pm

Audience: All Ages
Meet: Visitor Center front desk
Have you ever wondered about the striking topography found at KNC and across the Kalamazoo area? Come along for a hike through some of our most beautiful natural features and learn about the intense glacial forces that shaped this area into the place we know and love. This program has a flexible end time to accommodate for hiking time.

Fee: Included in regular KNC admission; drop in program

Please join us the first Saturday of each month at 9 AM (barring special events or bad weather which will be announced on our Facebook page), for "Beginning Birding Walks," led by experienced birders from the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo. This event is free and open to the public. Meet at the second parking lot at Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Mattawan, just off SR 43. All skill levels are welcome.

We will enjoy nature while typically identifying 20-40 species of birds, plus butterflies, frogs, etc. Over 200 bird species have been sighted at Wolf Lake, which offers a variety of habitats and easy walking trails. Annual highlights include colorful songbirds like orioles, warblers, tanagers, hawks and eagles, kingfishers, Great Blue and Green Herons, and over 20 species of waterfowl. Eastern Bluebirds can be found year-round! Children accompanying adults are welcome. The focus is on birding fundamentals, and extra binoculars are always available. The walk typically takes about 2 hours (but feel free to arrive late or leave early).

January 15, 11 am – 1 pm

Audience: Geared for Adults 50+, but all are welcome

Meet: Front desk inside the Visitor Center

Join Mike Ricco of Sea Michigan and hear about his journeys exploring the beautiful shorelines of Lake Michigan, or as Mike calls it, “Sea Michigan”!

Bring your lunch! We will eat together after the program. Part of the Silver Maples Series: NatureCenter.org/SilverMaples

Fee: Member $16, Non-Member $20 Please register.

The Greens of Winter Walk
Saturday, January 17 at 2 pm

Audience: All Ages
Meet: Visitor Center front desk

We might think of Winter as a season dominated by whites and browns, but our hardiest green photosynthetic life clings on all year round! Take a tour of the mosses and lichens of the woods and learn how these radically different organisms survive and thrive. This program has a flexible end time to accommodate for hiking time.

Fee: Included in regular KNC admission; drop in program

Yoga & Forest Bathing
Sunday, January 18, 2-4 pm

Audience: Adults

Meet: Gallery in the visitor center

Reconnect with yourself and with nature by joining us for a mindful session of yoga and shinrin yoku, the art and practice of forest bathing. Yoga will be gentle and perfect for all experience levels, followed by a guided meditative walk led by an experienced shinrin yoku instructor. Bring a yoga mat and be ready to change into outdoor clothing for our walk.

Fee: Member $28, Non-Member $35. Please register.

Saturday, January 24, 10 –11:30 am

Audience: Adults
Meet: Visitor Center Classroom

Join us to learn how to make fire cider, a popular herbal tonic often used to keep some pep in your step for the cold months of winter. We’ll learn about the history and purported benefits of fire cider, then make our own batch of the spicy pick-me-up.

Fee: Member $15, Non-Member $20. Please register.

Discover KNC Guided Hike
Saturdays, January 24 & February 28, 2 pm

Audience: All Ages

Meet: Visitor Center Front Desk

Come explore KNC on a guided hike through some of our favorite areas. Each month will feature a different trail, taking you through our greatest hits and best kept secrets. Dress appropriately for the weather and bring your best trail shoes! Hot tea will be provided.

1/24/2026- Discover the Habitat Haven Trail

2/28/2026- Discover the Prairie Pathway Trail

Fee: Members Free, Non-Member $10. Please register; drop in if space allows.

One morning, a young man boards the Coast Starlight, the long-distance train that runs from Los Angeles to Seattle. He’s got a secret that can land him in terrible trouble, and he has roughly one thousand miles to enlist the help of his fellow travelers – all of whom are reckoning with their own choices in search of a way forward.

Told through a blend of imagined conversations and internal monologues, the play lets us hear what the characters might say if fear and politeness didn’t get in the way. Funny, moving, and deeply human, The Coast Starlight is a story of reinvention—of finding connection in moments that almost pass us by.