Mill Creek Greenway Trail

4336 Spring Grove Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45223
(Salway Park)

FREE Activities for All Ages

10:00-2:00 p.m. ~ Watershed Exploration

• Citizen Scientists of all ages can join us streamside for 3 different activities:

  • “Water Quality & Habitat” activity table: Join the Mill Creek Alliance staff in performing chemistry testing on a fresh creek water sample and learn how these parameters relate to the local habitat. All ages can explore at their comfort level.

  • “Who Lives Here? Plankton and Fish” activity table: Join FORE (Foundation for Ohio River Education) to learn what lives in the river. Use microscopes and other tools to look at PLANKTON and FISH. All ages can explore at their comfort level.

  • “BioBlitz/Species Count” activity: Walk the trails at Salway Park and learn about local species. Make observations using iNaturalist app and capture data for the 2022 Mill Creek Species Count. For a quicker start, download the iNaturalist app before heading down to Salway Park.

  • Creative Nature activities! Crafts, chalk drawings, bubbles and more

  • SNACKS!

9:30-1:00 p.m. ~ Paddle the Mill Creek-Urban stream adventure

• A FREE "mini" Urban Stream Adventure paddling the Mill Creek from Salway to Yellow Bridge. Put-in at Salway main ramp, paddle down to Yellow Bridge (~1.3 mile). The trip back to Salway on foot via Mill Creek Greenway trail.

• Arrive by 9:30 to check in and participate in Pre-Paddle YOGA!

• Use our boats/equipment or bring your own. REGISTRATION REQUIRED

9:30-9:50 A.m. ~ Project Yoga-Cincinnati/Streamside Yoga

• Join Project Yoga for a 20 minute yoga session. DETAILS PENDING

• Registration suggested but not required.

10:30-2:00 p.m. ~ Canoe Float

• Paddle the Pool! Put a canoe in at Salway for a short and easy paddle upstream with a stop on a sand bar for exploration. Round trip, put-in and take-out is less than 30 minutes. First come first serve. Guides available or paddle on your own. Open to 4 yrs and up/youth must be accompanied by parents.

• Use our boats/equipment or bring your own. REGISTRATION RECOMMENDED but walk ups accepted. You MUST wear CLOSED-TOED shoes to participate.

11:15-11:30 A.m. ~ Project Yoga-Cincinnati/Streamside Yoga

• Join Project Yoga for a 15 minute yoga session.

• Registration suggested but not required.

11:30 A.M.-12:30 p.m. ~ Community modern dance class (FREE)

• Take a free outdoor modern dance class with Alissa Stachowski (of the Great Global Water Dance group) on the banks of the Mill Creek. At the end of each class there will be a short 5 minute sample of choreography for next year's Global Water Dances. This class is mainly designed for adults and teens, and older kids can also participate with parents. It is recommended that you register but you can also just show up that day. Any changes due to the weather will also be posted on the Facebook group “Outdoor Dance Cincinnati”. Be sure to wear comfortable clothing and shoes that you can move in - class may be held on grass or pavement.

7:45 (Dusk)-9:00 p.m. ~ Space Walk! (self-guided)

• SpaceWalk! is an after dark immersive visual art installation designed to convey the true scale of our solar system, both in terms of the size of the planets and their distances from the sun. Following a linear path spanning 3/4 of a mile and at a scale of 3.5 Billion:1, this walkable installation replicates the vastness of space in a tangible way. Beginning at the sun, a hand-painted globe filled with 50 pulsing LED lights intended to emulate solar activity, explorers continue along the path visiting each planet as they travel further out from the sun. The miniature planets are hand-painted in realistic detail with blacklight acrylic and lit with solar powered UV lights after dusk. SpaceWalk! intends to be the most realistic to-scale outdoor model of our solar system in the world and lives along the Mill Creek Greenway trail at Salway park, in Cincinnati, OH. It was created in 2016 by amateur astronomer Josiah Wolff. Start the walk from “The Sun” at 4520 Spring Grove Avenue (north parking lot of Salway Park). This is a self-guided tour.

Thanks to this year’s event partners:

Pictures from Previous Events

• 2023

• 2022

• 2021

• 2020

• 2019