Things were all a-flutter Saturday, Sept. 13 at the Amarillo Botanical Gardens as they celebrated the annual Butterfly Release. Over a thousand participants took part in the event by purchasing a ticket and receiving a beautiful Monarch butterfly to release into the beautiful gardens.
Greg Lusk, director and horticulturist said, “Today’s a day with butterflies. It’s an annual event that features a breakfast, live butterfly release, food trucks, vendors, education and crafts, lots of stuff to do.”
Booths were set up for education and for young kids to decorate rocks and make colorful butterfly bracelets while learning about the importance of butterflies to nature.
“It’s to celebrate the migration of the Monarch butterfly that comes through here on its migratory path. They migrate from Canada to Mexico every year and then back in Mexico and Canada. They stop here, but they migrate up and down, east of the Rockies,” Lusk said.
“It’s a fun event for kids and adults. This event is to benefit a Butterfly Free Flight Butterfly House,” he said. “It’s all education based and a good event for families and everybody.”
Young and old celebrated the flight of the butterfly and often lifted them up, placing them on flowers when they sometimes landed on the brick pathway. A light rain cooled down the area, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of participants, especially young girls who attended with the families.
Evelyn Friemel was all about butterflies in her butterfly costume, complete with wings. Her mother, Stephanie, said her daughter was crazy about the butterflies, so they had to come and take part in the festivities.
Rita Swearingen said she had to come out and enjoy the release. She had gone to an earlier one at Memorial Park and worried about the butterflies not having the right flowers and area to thrive in, so she came out to the Botanical Gardens where they would be in their element. Swearingen gingerly picked up a Monarch off the pathway to keep it safe and guided it to a flower.
A young girl named Paiton Maxwell let the Monarch rest on her fingers and spread its wings, but the light rain and breeze blew it off the flowers. She worked on getting it to the right flower as her mother, Kayla, watched her, and it finally lit on a beautiful flower.
Trail of 1,000 jack-o-lanterns coming to Amarillo Botanical Gardens
Lusk said that a new fun fall event, The Trail of 1,000 Jack-o-Lanterns, would be taking place from 6:30 to 9 p.m., Oct. 22-25 at the Botanical Gardens and would feature a plethora of pumpkins carved into funny and scary faces decorating the area.
The biggest feature will be three giant singing jack-o-lanterns and a giant butterfly. Lights on trees will be in orange and purple Halloween colors, and the family-friendly event will also feature some pumpkin carving contests and have s’mores, hot chocolate and apple cider, along with other treats. Lusk said the event would be fun but not scary. Admission will be $10 each, with children ages 5 and younger free.
Lusk said that he and his wife went to a similar event in Chicago that piqued their interest in the fun fall festival. He said he may have some school children testing their skills in the pumpkin carving event throughout the month.
For more information, call the Amarillo Botanical Gardens at 806-352-6513.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo Botanical Gardens celebrates annual release as part of Monarch butterfly migration
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
