The Audubon Community Nature Center is looking for volunteers and sponsors for their annual Monarch Butterfly Festival that is returning fully on Saturday, Aug. 28. Pictured is the crowd gathered to watch the release of the butterflies that concluded an earlier festival.

The Audubon Community Nature Center is welcoming the full return of its Monarch Butterfly Festival.

The annual event on the last Saturday in August turns ACNC’s multipurpose room into a garden of flowers and free-flying butterflies as well as nature walks, butterfly programs, butterfly garden plants for sale, a food truck, and more.

Both this event and the adults-only Butterflies and Brews the evening before feature the hows and whys of Monarch Conservation, with tables showing their life cycle and some that can be held.

Audubon is putting out a call for help for this celebration that welcomes hundreds of visitors.

Volunteers are needed to take admissions, help in the Monarch Room, sell monarch-friendly plants, assist people with viewing caterpillars, and much more. If you are interested in helping, you can contact Tina Preston, volunteer coordinator, at 569-2345 or TPreston@AudubonCNC.org.

Through both financial and in-kind donations, business sponsors help make these and other ACNC events possible.

Depending on their level of sponsorship, businesses supporting Audubon’s Monarch events can be named in news releases, have their logo on posters plus ACNC’s website and social media, receive family memberships, complimentary event tickets, and more.

For information on how to become a business sponsor for the Monarch Butterfly Festival, call 569-2345 and speak with Audubon Executive Director Leigh Rovegno.

For details on both the Friday, Aug. 27, Butterflies and Brews and Saturday, Aug. 28, Monarch Butterfly Festival, call 569-2345 or go to AudubonCNC.org and click on “Upcoming Programs.”

Audubon program sponsors include Curt and Susie Westrom, Bob and Kathy Frucella, Carnahan-Jackson Foundation, Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, Holmberg Foundation, Hultquist Foundation, Jessie Smith Darrah Fund, The Lenna Foundation, The Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation, Bush Industries, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, Hal and Mary Conarro, Metallic Ladder Mfg. Corp., Univera Healthcare, and Whirley-Drinkworks.

The Audubon Community Nature Center is located at 1600 Riverside Road, one-quarter mile east of Route 62 between Jamestown and Warren. View six miles of trails on the 600-acre nature preserve from dawn to dusk daily free of charge. The Nature Center building includes the Blue Heron Gift Shop, live animals, exhibits, and the winning photographs from the 2020 Nature Photography Contest. Monday through Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is by donation until August 2, after which regular admission fees will resume. Sunday hours of 1-4:30 p.m. with free admission begin August 1.

Face coverings are not required outdoors, but unvaccinated individuals are asked to wear face coverings when inside the Nature Center building. To learn more about Audubon and its many programs, call 569-2345, visit AudubonCNC.org, or find Audubon Community Nature Center on Facebook.