2021 FESTIVAL RECAP

The Festival takes place during peak monarch migration season in San Antonio, when migrating monarch butterflies east of the Rocky Mountains funnel through Texas on their way to Mexico to roost for the winter.

San Antonio sits in the heart of this migratory flyway and claims status as the nation’s first Monarch Butterfly Champion City by the National Wildlife Federation. The Alamo City also ranks as a Bird City, USA, and a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy–designations we celebrate each October with our Festival.

Most events were FREE. We use the monarch butterfly migration to celebrate the importance of wildlife pollinators and their importance in making one out of every three bites of our food possible. We also tag butterflies in honor of loved ones’ who died, weaving the insects’ spiritual dimension into the festivities through our Forever Journey campaign. The insects typically arrive in the high altitude mountains west of Mexico City by Day of the Dead/Día de los Muertos.

Here’s what transpired.

Remember 2020? We couldn’t gather in person last year so we partnered with Walley Films to make a brief movie chronicling the challenging year through the lens of the migration and the metamorphosis of the monarch butterfly.

The 23-minute film follows the monarchs from Mexico on their journey north to Canada and back in October. You’ll appreciate the parallels between the monarchs’ struggle to continue their life cycle and ours, as we all morph to the next stage. Watch it on YouTube.

For the month of October, Pearl is proud to honor pollinators and their role in our local food ecosystem. Throughout the month, be on the lookout for farmers market produce and menu items made possible by pollinators at select Pearl restaurants along with signage to showcase pollinator friendly landscaping.

Each fall, monarch butterflies arrive in the high altitude forests west of Mexico City in time for Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos. We’ll honor this tradition by tagging hundreds of butterflies in honor of loved ones who died. The names of loved ones will be entered on the data sheets sent to citizen science project Monarch Watch with the hope that the butterflies are recovered in Mexico. Earlier this year TWO of the butterflies tagged at our 2021 Festival were recovered. Read their story here.

Sponsored by HEB

Join this live zoom event to hear all about Jonathan Meiburg’s book A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey. Meiburg will discuss his findings and passion for the caracara, a bird in the falcon family. He makes a compelling case for embracing this hemispheric raptor, which scavenges dead animals and attacks and eats live prey in equal measure. The caracara is also known to steal hats, play games, and distinguish toys and colors.

Join all San Antonio BiblioTech Library branches for a celebration of the monarch butterfly October 11 – 15.  Participants will create a small craft representing the life cycle of the butterfly.

San Antonio BCycle and the San Antonio River Authority are leading an exploratory jaunt along the San Antonio River. Steven Schauer will explain the restoration project and how it affects the migrations of pollinators and Lee Marlowe will point out the native plants found on the river that assist pollinators in their migrations. And Michael Gramley will point out the various activities you can enjoy thanks to the river restoration project. $10 Registration fee will be donated to the San Antonio River Foundation.

Get your wings on for our sixth annual Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival!

Festival day takes flight with a People for Pollinators Parade beginning at 9:45 AM. We’ll be tagging monarch butterflies for citizen science in honor of loved ones all day long, kayaking the beautiful San Antonio River and offering myriad educational events and family fun by our education partners.

Full schedule and map here. 

Come discover the nature, science and culture of pollinators found throughout Witte Museum! From the Cretaceous to today, pollinators continue to play an important role in the natural world and in cultures around the world. Come celebrate these important creatures at the final event of the 2021 Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival. Tickets available here:  Cocktails & Culture: Pollinators at the Witte | The Witte Museum.

Presented by the Witte Museum 

A “caterpillar condo” will be awarded to 60 Title-1 classrooms throughout San Antonio on September 13 following a monarch teacher training on September 11 at Confluence Park. The condos–a pop-up cage, milkweed plant, monarch caterpillar, and tag for citizen science activity–will be accompanied by Blooming with Birdie’s hands-on, TEKS aligned, virtual curriculum. Students will learn about the monarch, metamorphosis, migration, and citizen science.

Second grade students will observe the life-cycle of the monarch’s metamorphosis as it morphs from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly, then tag and release the butterfly to join the migration in October.

Applications are now closed.

Sponsored by Valero

Sponsored by the San Antonio River Authority

Join the Garcia Street Urban Farm team for tours of their pollinator gardens to learn how to “partner with pollinators” for high-production gardening and food production. One-hour tours start promptly at 9:30am and at 11am.

AND A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS

Bexar Audubon Society * Bexar County Master Gardeners * Compost Queens * Eco Centro * Garcia Street Farm * Lake Flato * Native Plant Society of Texas San Antonio Chapter * Rainbow Gardens  *  Southern Wildlife Rehab * The Nectar Bar *  Trinity University * UTSA * Witte Museum *  Yoga Day