MONARCH BUTTERFLY AND POLLINATOR FESTIVAL

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.

Sponsored by Valero

Applications are now closed.

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.

Join Festival manager Ashley Bird and the Culinary Institute of America for Live Fire Kitchen at Pearl, cooking demos that showcase ingredients made possible by pollinators–from your morning coffee to happy hour drinks.

Pearl Farmers Market food and menu items will be highlighted all month with a pollinator icon at select Pearl restaurants. An interactive educational experience in partnership with Texas A&M Forest Service Nature Challenge will also join the line up.

Sponsored by Pearl

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.

If you’d like us to tag a butterfly in someone’s name, please fill out this form to honor them and remember their names. It’s FREE. If your family member, friend or loved one’s tagged butterfly makes it to Mexico, is recovered, and reported, we’ll let you know.

Want to financially support our Forever Journey effort and the San Antonio River Foundation? You can do so here.

Save the date for this hybrid event, A Conversation with Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist, streamed and projected onto a large screen at Legacy Park.

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

Festival day takes flight with a People for Pollinators Parade at 10 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.

Please check back with us as details come into focus. And if you’d like to participate as a sponsor or education partner, please fill out this form.

Leave the kids at home and meet new friends or bring a date! Experience the after-hours thrill of cocktails and culture an evening exclusively for adults (21 and older). You’ll enjoy immersive conversation and innovative museum culture. The evening will showcase special museum exhibits and includes complimentary beverages. Food available for purchase from local food vendors.

Details coming soon!

Presented by the Witte Museum