NAVARRE — Join the Panhandle Butterfly House in celebrating the amazing journey of the monarch butterfly. The Eighth Annual Monarch Madness Butterfly Festival is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 3 and 4 at the Panhandle Butterfly House, 8581 Navarre Parkway (U.S. Highway 98), in Navarre Park.
Admission is free, but butterfly house donations are encouraged and appreciated.
The Panhandle Butterfly House is a certified Monarch Waystation with Monarch Watch, an educational, conservation and research organization at the University of Kansas.
Attendees of all ages can enjoy strolling through the vivarium, a screened structure housing hundreds of butterflies and the plants they love. Children can learn about the life and biology of the butterfly while earning their Junior Lepidopterist card entitling them to release a butterfly in the vivarium. Children ages 3 and up will be able to tag and release a monarch butterfly outdoors as part of the annual Monarch Watch.
“The tagging program is a part of a nationwide research program that helps answer questions about the geographic origins of monarchs that reach Mexico, the timing and pace of the migration, mortality during migration and changes in geographic distribution,” said Mary Derrick, University of Florida IFAS Extension agent in Santa Rosa County.
Children can make and take fun butterfly-related crafts during the event; the Monarch Market will have many butterfly themed items for sale; and the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center and the Navarre Beach Marine Science Station will have dynamic displays.
In addition, Santa Rosa County Master Gardeners will provide advice to area residents on lawns, landscaping and gardens.
Holley-Navarre Elks Lodge No. 2787 will be raising money for local charities with the sale of hamburgers and hot dogs, along with snacks and soft drinks.
For more information visit www.panhandlebutterflyhouse.org; or contact Mary Derrick at 850-623-3868 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays; or via email at maryd@santarosa.fl.gov.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Panhandle Butterfly House celebrates Eighth Annual Monarch Madness