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Green-Tie Celebration Goes to the Movies for DPNC
Green-Tie Celebration rolls out the red carpet at Coogan Farm on Friday, September 18, as the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center turns its annual fundraiser into a night at the movies, complete with costumes, cocktails, dinner bites, an auction, and an environmental hero whose work has changed the landscape of the farm itself.
This year’s theme is “The Nature Center Goes to the Movies,” and guests are encouraged to arrive dressed as a favorite movie star or character.
There will even be an award for the evening’s best costume.
But behind the movie-premiere fun is the serious purpose that has always driven Green-Tie.
This is the Nature Center’s primary annual fundraiser, supporting its environmental education programs, wildlife rehabilitation, conservation work, land stewardship, and day-to-day operations.
And in the middle of this year’s celebration, the spotlight will turn to Lydia Pan, recipient of the 2026 Maggie Jones Environmental Hero Award.
Green-Tie Has Never Been a Black-Tie Kind of Gala
The name tells you something about the personality of this fundraiser.
Green-Tie has traditionally rejected the idea that supporting conservation requires an evening of tuxedos and ballroom chandeliers.
Past dress suggestions have ranged from wellies and wool to gowns and fascinators.
The celebration takes place outdoors at Coogan Farm, under a large tent, with the surrounding fields and preserved landscape serving as the setting.
For 2026, DPNC is taking that playful tradition all the way to Hollywood.
The movie theme invites guests to dress as a favorite actor, actress or movie character. The Nature Center is promising a “red carpet” celebration, and the best-dressed guest gets an award.
James Bond?
Dorothy Gale?
Indiana Jones?
Audrey Hepburn?
The Dude?
DPNC isn’t prescribing the movie or the decade.
Just remember that you’re still going to a farm.
Lydia Pan Gets the Starring Role
Every good movie needs a lead.
This year’s belongs to Lydia Pan.
Pan will receive the Maggie Jones Environmental Hero Award for her extensive volunteer work at Coogan Farm, particularly her efforts to remove invasive plants, restore native habitat and teach other volunteers how to continue the work.
That last part is important.
Pan isn’t simply pulling weeds.
She has been leading volunteers in identifying invasive species, understanding why they threaten native ecosystems and learning practical methods for controlling them.
Her work at Coogan Farm has included tackling species familiar to anyone who has fought an overgrown Connecticut property: multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, Oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle, autumn olive and mugwort, among others.
She has also led public educational programs at the farm devoted specifically to invasive-plant management.
The Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group recorded Pan leading a public Coogan Farm program that covered Connecticut’s invasive-plant regulations, identification and management techniques and alternatives using native plants.
She has continued leading habitat restoration work and public programs at the property.
Removing an Invasive Plant Is Only Half the Job
Pulling something unwanted out of the ground can feel satisfying.
Ecological restoration is more complicated.
Invasive plants can dominate an area so thoroughly that removing them simply creates open ground where the same species, or another invasive, can return.
That’s why restoration often involves a second step: helping native plants reestablish themselves.
Native vegetation provides food and habitat for insects, birds and other wildlife that evolved alongside it.
Pan’s work at Coogan Farm has focused on both sides of that equation, reducing invasive plants while encouraging native alternatives.
It’s slow work.
There is no movie montage where an entire ecosystem gets restored in three minutes while inspirational music plays.
The real version takes seasons.
And volunteers.
Lots of volunteers.
Pan Has Been Teaching Those Volunteers How to Do It
DPNC describes Pan’s contribution not only as eradicating invasive species and beautifying Coogan Farm but as directing and encouraging volunteers through hands-on learning.
That multiplies the effect of one knowledgeable person.
A volunteer who learns to recognize Oriental bittersweet at Coogan Farm can recognize it at home.
Someone who learns why Japanese barberry can be damaging doesn’t stop knowing that when the volunteer session ends.
Pan has also worked with Wild Ones’ Mountain Laurel Chapter, an organization devoted to native plants and natural landscaping.
In 2023, the organization described her as president of the chapter and noted that she had already spent several years leading a Coogan Farm volunteer team working to eliminate or reduce invasive plants and replace them with native alternatives supporting pollinators and wildlife.
That makes the award especially appropriate.
The work combines conservation with education, two things at the center of DPNC’s mission.
The Maggie Jones Award Is Still a Young Tradition
The Maggie Jones Environmental Hero Award was established in 2023 to recognize people and organizations demonstrating exceptional commitment to environmental protection, education and community involvement.
Its namesake is former DPNC Executive Director Maggie Jones, whose leadership became inseparable from the modern history of the Nature Center.
Jones served as executive director for decades and helped guide major conservation projects, including the effort to preserve Coogan Farm.
When DPNC created the award in 2023, there was an obvious choice for its first recipient.
Maggie Jones.
The Mystic Garden Club received the honor in 2024.
In 2025, it went to longtime conservation advocate and Groton Open Space Association founding member Sidney Van Zandt, recognizing more than six decades of land-conservation work.
Pan now joins that group in 2026.
The Gala Is Taking Place on Land the Award’s Namesake Helped Save
There is a satisfying bit of symmetry here.
Green-Tie isn’t honoring environmental work in a rented ballroom.
It’s happening on land that exists as protected open space in significant part because of the conservation effort led by the organization hosting the party.
DPNC acquired Coogan Farm in 2013 following a grassroots campaign to protect one of the last undeveloped pieces of farmland between downtown Mystic, Mystic Seaport Museum and Mystic Aquarium.
The preserved property totals 45 acres.
More than 60 volunteers and 760 donors participated in the campaign, along with the Trust for Public Land.
The acquisition extended a larger greenway while protecting habitat, open space and portions of two watersheds.
The landscape also preserves centuries of Mystic history.
For a conservation fundraiser, it’s difficult to imagine a more appropriate venue.
Coogan Farm Goes Back Centuries
Long before anyone called it Coogan Farm, the land overlooking the Mystic River had a complicated history.
Indigenous Pequot people used the area and surrounding estuaries before European colonization.
Following the Pequot War, land in the area was granted to English settlers, including Captain John Gallup.
Agriculture, pasture and orchards became part of the landscape over subsequent centuries.
The Coogan name arrived much later.
Walter C. Morgan purchased the property in 1902. His daughter, Clara Avery Morgan, inherited it and married Clarence A. Coogan in 1918, eventually giving the property the name by which it is known today.
The preserved landscape still contains stone walls, foundations, meadows, hedgerows and an heirloom orchard.
That combination of cultural and natural history is why DPNC describes it as both a Nature and Heritage Center.
The Giving Garden Turned Preserved Land Into Working Land
Saving Coogan Farm didn’t mean freezing it in time.
One of DPNC’s most visible projects there is the Craig Floyd Giving Garden.
Created after the property was acquired, the garden was designed around two interconnected ideas: teaching sustainable agriculture and growing nutritious food for people who need it.
It began in 2014 through a partnership among DPNC, the Robert G. Youngs Family Foundation and United Way.
The first growing season produced a little more than a ton of food.
By 2016, the garden was producing more than six tons of vegetables in a single season.
Today, DPNC operates the garden as a permanent part of its mission.
Produce is distributed to people experiencing food insecurity in New London County through the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center and its network.
The garden also functions as an outdoor classroom.
This Isn’t Your Grandfather’s Vegetable Garden
The Giving Garden emphasizes regenerative agriculture, attempting to grow food while improving rather than depleting the soil.
Its features extend beyond rows of vegetables.
There are fruit crops, herbs, spices, mushrooms, flowers, composting areas and honeybee hives.
Walking paths allow people to move through the growing areas, and a natural amphitheater provides space for instruction.
Volunteers do much of the planting, tending and harvesting.
That volunteer culture is part of the reason Pan’s work fits so naturally into the larger story of Coogan Farm.
The place is preserved land, but it isn’t passive land.
People are constantly working on it.
Growing food.
Restoring habitat.
Removing invasives.
Teaching classes.
Maintaining trails.
Learning from one another.
Green-Tie Helps Pay for Much More Than Coogan Farm
The fundraiser supports the larger Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, which has been providing environmental education in Mystic since 1946.
DPNC now manages and stewards a roughly 400-acre greenway with more than 10 miles of trails.
At its main Pequotsepos Road campus, the Nature Center combines a natural-history museum with native wildlife exhibits, educational spaces and trails through southeastern Connecticut habitats.
Its resident animals include non-releasable birds of prey used as wildlife ambassadors.
DPNC also operates a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation program.
Its educators work with children and adults through school programs, camps, preschool, workshops, hikes and other environmental programs.
Green-Tie helps support all of it.
That’s why DPNC describes the celebration as its most important fundraiser of the year rather than a fundraiser for one particular project.
Dinner Comes From Dog Watch Cafe
This isn’t a movie night where dinner means popcorn.
The 2026 celebration includes heavy hors d’oeuvres from Dog Watch Cafe, the Stonington restaurant known for its waterfront location overlooking Dodson Boatyard.
Drinks will also be part of the evening.
DPNC is advertising an auction as part of the fundraiser as well, giving guests another way to support the organization beyond the ticket price.
And for people who cannot attend, there’s a remote option.
DPNC specifically invites supporters who can’t make it to Coogan Farm to “raise your paddle remotely” by donating online.
Tickets Start at $130
There are four ticket levels for the 2026 Green-Tie Celebration.
A Single Red Carpet Ticket is $130.
A Patron Red Carpet Ticket is $200.
An Actors Guild package is $900 for six tickets.
A Directors Circle package is $1,500 for 10 tickets.
The increasing levels allow supporters to make a larger contribution to DPNC while attending the same annual celebration.
Advance ticket purchase is important for an event of this kind, particularly because food and event planning depend on knowing attendance ahead of time.
Park at Mystic Seaport, Not Coogan Farm
This is one logistical detail worth knowing before leaving home.
Most Green-Tie guests do not park at Coogan Farm.
Instead, attendees should park in the North Lot at Mystic Seaport Museum.
Continuous shuttle service will run between the parking lot and Coogan Farm from 6 to 9 p.m.
Guests with handicapped parking permits can use the limited accessible parking available at Coogan Farm.
The arrangement has been used for previous Green-Tie celebrations and solves a fairly obvious problem: a preserved farm isn’t supposed to have a massive event parking lot.
And Yes, the Show Goes On in the Rain
Green-Tie is a rain-or-shine event.
The celebration takes place under a tent at Coogan Farm, so a questionable forecast doesn’t automatically mean cancellation.
That is worth considering when planning a movie-inspired costume.
A floor-length gown may deliver a magnificent red-carpet entrance.
It may be somewhat less magnificent after crossing wet farm ground.
Comfortable footwear isn’t a bad supporting actor.
The Movie Theme Is Fun. The Place Is the Point.
The red carpet gives Green-Tie its personality this year.
The costumes will get attention.
Someone will win best dressed.
There will be drinks, food, an auction and plenty of reasons to treat September 18 as a night out.
But look beyond the tent and the theme makes a different kind of sense.
You’re standing on 45 acres that people organized to prevent from being developed.
Nearby, volunteers grow food for people who need it.
Across the property, other volunteers are restoring native habitat.
A woman who has spent years leading that work will receive an environmental award named for the woman who helped save the farm in the first place.
And the money raised that night will help an organization that has been teaching southeastern Connecticut about its wildlife, habitats and natural history for 80 years.
That’s a pretty good plot.
Details
Event: Green-Tie Celebration: The Nature Center Goes to the Movies
Date: Friday, September 18, 2026
Time: 6–8 p.m.
Location: Coogan Farm Nature & Heritage Center
Address: 162 Greenmanville Avenue, Mystic, CT 06355
Organizer: Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
Purpose: DPNC’s primary annual fundraiser, supporting operations and environmental education programs
Theme: The Nature Center Goes to the Movies
Attire: Guests are encouraged to dress as a favorite movie star or movie character
Best Dressed: A costume award will be presented
Food: Heavy hors d’oeuvres provided by Dog Watch Cafe
Also Included: Drinks, auction and evening celebration
2026 Honoree: Lydia Pan
Award: Maggie Jones Environmental Hero Award
Single Red Carpet Ticket: $130
Patron Red Carpet Ticket: $200
Actors Guild: $900 for six tickets
Directors Circle: $1,500 for 10 tickets
Weather: Rain or shine; celebration takes place under a tent
Parking: Park in the North Lot at Mystic Seaport Museum
Shuttle: Continuous shuttle service between Mystic Seaport Museum and Coogan Farm from 6–9 p.m.
Accessible Parking: Limited parking at Coogan Farm is reserved for vehicles with handicapped parking permits
Can’t Attend: Supporters can donate online and participate in the fundraising remotely
{Donate to the DPNC}
More information is available at the Event Website link below.
To purchase tickets, click the Event Ticketing link below.
Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.
Nice write-up, thanks: