Monarchs Delight At Lake Katherine's Butterfly Festival

PALOS HEIGHTS, IL -- The monarch butterfly migration down to Mexico is one of nature's most stunning spectacles. As the colorful butterfly prepares for its great fall journey in the wild, Lake Katherine Nature Center & Botanic Gardens in Palos Heights is opening up its butterfly tents for hundreds of children and adults to enjoy. Four hundred butterflies will be released into three tents for the public to enjoy at this year's Monarch Butterfly Festival at the on Sunday, Sept. 16 from 11 a.m. and 4.30 p.m.

In an effort to reduce single-use plastic, this year’s event will be more environmentally friendly than ever with no plastic water bottles for sale. Instead, Lake Katherine will provide water stations around the grounds. Festgoers who bring their own reusable water bottle to fill up will be entered into a raffle to win an eco kit. The event will also feature a new butterfly tent location for 2018, with a walkway and additional butterfly visibility tent. Tickets for the festival are $7 per person with free entry for children two and under and early deals on Groupon.com. Other attractions at the event include an arts and crafts fair, hayrides, face painting, scarecrow making, book readings, canoe and kayak rentals, live animals, children's farm, children's games, and crafts and food vendors. Festgoers will be able to park at Palos Heights City Hall, 7607 W. College Drive, and take a free shuttle to Lake Katherine or use additional parking facilities at 7350 West College Drive.

In the past 20 years the monarch population has dropped from a billion to 30 million largely because of habitat destruction. Monarch caterpillars feed and lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed, but the colorful flower is rapidly disappearing from the countryside due to the overuse of herbicides and decline of the native prairie.

As a city, Palos Heights has become increasingly active in helping the monarch butterfly sustain its numbers. Mayor Straz recently signed the National Wildlife Federation's Mayor's Monarch Pledge making a commitment to take at least three specific actions to help the butterfly. The city has installed a new pollinator garden at city hall with the help of Lake Katherine naturalists. It includes signage and flyers about the native plants included and information about how the community can replicate the project in their own backyards and businesses. Lake Katherine will also showcase a new consultancy service to help local companies provide native habitat for wildlife at the festival.

"Every year at the Monarch Butterfly Festival we highlight the flight of the monarchs and how important the butterfly is as a pollinator," says Lake Katherine's operation manager Gareth Blakesley. "This year the festival is more poignant than ever and we are proud of how our city is coming together to celebrate, protect and aid the monarch."

~ Image via Lake Katherine