For those of you who were at last month’s Get Your PHX event, you saw the beauty of the Audubon Center first hand. This Friday the Audubon Center will be holding River Nights, a fundraiser party featuring music from Sergio Mendoza y la Orkestra, Four Peaks Beer, and delicious street tacos from Taqueria Guadalajar, to benefit their education and conservation program.

The customarily free-admission Audubon Center offers interactive exhibits, an interpretive loop trail, connections to the Rio Salado Habitat’s sixteen miles of hiking and riding trails, which draw in local students year round as well as veteran members. The center hopes to bring in a young professional crowd for future support with this Fridays chic, lounge-themed evening.  Valerie Ramos, who is coordinating the event, wants to engage and education the “next generation of leaders” through events and activities at the center.

The Arizona Audubon Center believes exposing urban young people to the beauty and complexity of the natural world is existential, in hopes that they are inclined to protect it as adults. The center believes there is ample habitat for birds and other wildlife, even amongst our urban sprawl. They work daily to promote interaction and appreciation of the natural environment and   educate and motivate local youth to become the conservation leaders of tomorrow.

River Night will be this Friday, November 4 from 5:30-9:30 pm at the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center at 3131 S Central Ave. Admission will be $25 advanced admission or $30 at the door. For more information, visit www.riosalado.audubon.org or call 602-468-6470.