Monarchpalooza! is a semi-annual event held by the Bird Tree & Garden Club that educates the public about the diminishing numbers of monarch butterflies. Monarch butterflies are pollenators and are key to keeping New York’s ecosystem alive and well.

CHAUTAUQUA — The Bird Tree & Garden Club’s semi-annual Monarchpalooza! at Chautauqua Institution is an event that was designed to educate the public about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly and the declining numbers of the species over the years.

Over 500 people came out to see the 400 monarch butterflies at Monarchpalooza!, many of whom were children eager to learn all about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly. The crowd was thick with people wanting to see the live specimens and learn what they could do to help increase the butterfly population.

“Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed plants,” said Lynda Acker, board member of the Bird Tree & Garden Club and the organizer of the event. “Milkweed has toxins that are absorbed into the caterpillars, making it harder for their natural predators to eat them.”

The population of monarch butterflies has dramatically dropped over 20 years, mainly due to herbicides and pesticides ruining monarchs’ food source.

However, thanks to the success of Monarchpalooza!, held this year on July 18, and the Bird Tree & Garden Club’s raising of awareness about the subject matter, the local monarch population has slowly begun to rise over the past few years.

“We’ve had so many kids show up to the event,” Acker said. “They really are the best part. They learn about these amazing creatures, and they want to do something about it.”

Along with a tent that had face painting, lemonade, temporary tattoos and butterfly wings for sale, there was also a learning tent and a tent that contained nearly 400 monarch butterflies. There was also a drawing for three monarch butterfly frames just for showing up.

Each station inside the tent would teach about a different stage in a monarch butterfly’s life. There were leaves spread out with tiny eggs that visitors could look at through a magnifying glass. After that, there were older specimens already in the larvae stage, spread out on milkweed plants. Next, visitors could view actual monarch chrysalis in different stages of development.

Julie Holland, an expert on monarch butterflies and their migrations, demonstrated how she tags wild butterflies, and other experts showed the flight path of the monarch butterflies when they migrate to Mexico for the winter.

The caterpillars start out tiny, only 2 millimeters long, and soon grows to 25 to 45 millimeters.

In about 14 days, they move on to the chrysalis stage, which last about two weeks. Finally, they emerge as monarch butterflies, hanging upside down to let their new wings dry out.

“Monarch butterflies have about four generations each season,” Acker said. “The first generation at the beginning of the season only live for about a few weeks. The fourth generation, the ones that fly down to Mexico, can live for a few months.”

The main attraction was the screen tent that contained around 400 adult monarch butterflies. Anyone who had been to every station and filled out his or her card could take a straw with cotton swabs soaked in Gatorade and enter the tent to feed the butterflies.

Many of the participants said it felt like magic, walking among the butterflies. One butterfly landed on a girl’s hat. Several clung to the same straw. A lot of butterflies sat on the screen and showed off their wings. A few crawled onto the hands holding out the straws for them.

“We’re really grateful to everyone who got the word out about the event,” Acker said.

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