Amazing and insects are two words most people do not put together unless theyve visited the All A Flutter live butterfly exhibit coming to the Norma Johnson Center on July 16-26. An activity for all ages, there is much to learn when the display returns for its seventh year.
The exhibit is called All A Flutter because when you see a bunch of butterflies flying together, they are aflutter, said Marsha Zoller, director of the NJC, who also keeps current on butterfly facts. When you see a lot of butterflies around a mud puddle, they are usually boys. Its called puddling. They get minerals from the soil and that gives them the energy to chase the girls.
Zoller became intrigued with butterflies after a class she presented for children on monarch butterflies in 2008.
We were in the gazebo and I was trying to tell them how the caterpillars turn into chrysalis when one kid saw a caterpillar that was hanging in a J start to shed its skin. Its pretty amazing and I thought, we need to share this with everyone.
At this years event, approximately 14 different kinds of butterflies that live in Ohio will be featured including monarchs, commas, question marks, red admirals, painted ladies, silver spotted skippers, eastern tiger swallowtails, black swallowtails, mourning cloaks and fritillaries, a distant relative of the monarch.
The picnic shelter will be enclosed to accommodate the butterflies, and visitors will be able to go in and walk around with the butterflies and feed them using a cotton swab soaked with watermelon juice or other sweet liquid.
Tuscarawas County butterfly enthusiast Fran LeMasters, who owns All A Flutter Butterflies, a home-based business, will supply butterflies for display, and some will be added from the NJC. The RoseAnn ODonnell family from the Dover area is sponsoring the exhibit, which is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome though to support other projects and activities that go on year-round at the center. Dovers Hillcrest Garden Center donates butterfly-friendly plants to the exhibit.
At the All A Flutter exhibit, visitors can learn about the plight of the monarch butterflies. Each fall the monarchs from Ohio along with other eastern states and Canada fly south to Mexico where they spend the winter. Monarch butterflies have had it rough recently, and their numbers have greatly declined since hot and dry weather conditions in Texas in 2013 killed many of the butterflies before they could continue their migration north and reproduce.
Monarch butterflies only feed on milkweed plants, which are not as prevalent as they once were due to increased mowing and use of weed killers.
Butterflies are pretty picky about their milkweed. If it gets too tall, it gets too tough for the baby caterpillars to eat. It needs to be mowed off, but check first to see if there are any caterpillars on it, said Zoller.
The event, which is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, also includes free crafts and face painting. Purchases can be made at the events lunch concession along with other crafts, stepping-stones and brooms. The Norma Johnson Center is located on state Route 39, 3 miles west of Interstate 77, Dover Exit 83, and 6 miles east of Sugarcreek.
