Trout Lake Station’s Annual Open House Shines Despite the Rain

August 17, 2026

By Nalina Cherr- July 31st was rainy, but that did not stop a flood of people from rushing to Trout Lake Station (TLS) in Boulder Junction for our 15th annual Open House. More than three hundred visitors poured in to talk about freshwater science, play games, make art, and enjoy scoops of Babcock ice cream.

Most years, our Open House is held outside, but because of the weather we set up tables throughout the main laboratory, the garage, and the historic cabin our interns use to watch movies after work (known as the “House of Lords.”) In addition to the activities, many visitors enjoyed exploring the main lab building, admiring art from the Drawing Water art program, and viewing photos going back a century.

A group of people gather on a beach to observe the fish collection demostration at Trout Lake Station Open House. — More than three hundred people visited Trout Lake Station on July 31st despite the rain. Photo: Carrie Kissman

Open House is our chance to share what we do with our neighbors. Over the summer, TLS hosts more than forty people to do research on a range of topics in limnology, ecology, biology, social science and more. It’s a great time to challenge our scientists and interns to think about how to explain their work to people outside their field, and to encourage them to think about the relevancy of their research to various audiences. It was awesome to see our staff go above and beyond, coming up with ingenious games and clever ways to talk about their work.

Two kids watch two people in a boat collect fish from a net set in the lake at Trout Lake Station Open House. — Visitors watch graduate students Max Wilkinson and Taylor Preul-Stimetz collect fish with a fyke net. Photo: Nalina Cherr

Spectators look at fish collected during a demonstration at Trout Lake Station Open House. — Exploring and identifying the fish. Photo: Carrie Kissman

We brought many examples of lake dwellers indoors to show visitors their aquatic neighbors. Here Mason Smith, an undergraduate intern who studies invasive lake plants, helps a visitor identify an aquatic insect. Many common insects like dragonflies or mosquitos start life in the water. Photo: Nalina Cherr

A visitor looks at an aquatic insect on a spoon while a student holds up an identification sheet at Trout Lake Station Open House.

Artist Terry Daulton helps visitors complete a lake-themed art project at Trout Lake Station Open House.

Drawing Water is an artist in residency program where artists spend time with scientists and create art based on their experiences. Terry Daulton set up a collaborative art project where visitors used oil pastels to create a lake-themed collage. Visitors also designed block print postcards with Postdoctoral Fellow Ray Allen and crafted clothespin dragonflies. Photo: Nalina Cherr

Kids use magnets to collect fake fish from a pool of plants and water at Trout Lake Station Open House. — Undergraduate intern Emily Slowinske created a game where visitors caught plastic fish with magnets. Colorful fish were dispersed in two different pools, one full of a native aquatic plant called Northern Watermilfoil, and the other full of the invasive Eurasian Watermilfoil. The activity showed that there were fewer kinds of fish living among the invasive plants. Photo: Carrie Kissman

People play a game designed to demonstrate the selective feeding habits of various herbivores on wild rice at Trout Lake Station Open House. — Manoomin (Wild Rice) project technicians Rachel O’Neill and Jennifer Linden built a “hungry hungry herbivores” arena where visitors used cups glued to wooden sticks to fight for ping pong balls. Rachel explains how animals like muskrats, beavers, swans, and geese compete with each other to eat aquatic plants. Photo: Carrie Kissman

Scientists show visitors types of lake and bog plants at Trout Lake Station Open House. — Emeritus Scientist Susan Knight and Researcher Carol Warden show visitors the different types of aquatic plants that can be found in northern lakes and bogs.
Photo: Nalina Cherr

A student explains a poster about methane and plants in lakes to visitors at Trout Lake Station Open House. — Undergraduate intern Linda Hang explains the relationship between plants, mudflats, and methane with the help of a colorful poster designed by fellow intern Gianna Dugan. Kids were encouraged to smell the stinky, muddy samples at their station. Photo: Nalina Cherr

These are just a few examples of the demonstrations developed by researchers on station. Each of them makes science fun (or funny), giving people real information while engaging them in hands-on experiences.

Sometimes people think of scientists as people who wear white lab coats and write equations on chalkboards, but that’s not the whole picture. Scientists are creative. They have to be, to develop questions, predictions and methods. As a science communicator, I was delighted to see my coworkers use their imaginative, problem-solving minds to come up with approachable explanations and memorable activities.

We like to think that science is fun. Hopefully at Open House, visitors felt the same way. Thank you to everyone who dodged the raindrops to spend the day with us. We hope to see you again next year!