A child is pictured at a previous Audubon Community Nature Center Monarch Butterfly Festival.

With extended hours for working folks, the Audubon Community Nature Center’s Monarch Butterfly Festival is largely moving outdoors this year to be super COVID-safe.

This annual summer highlight is Saturday, Aug. 28, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Those who stay until the festival closes can watch the monarchs when they are released to begin their migration to Mexico.

The one indoor activity included in the event will be a Monarch room filled with flowers and free-flying butterflies. On arrival at the festival those attending can sign up for a limited-admission time slot to experience the butterflies up-close.

Face coverings are required for everyone inside and outside at the festival, regardless of vaccination status.

Audubon education staff will present hourly programs about the Monarch life cycle and migration in the outdoor Stephanie Frucella Education Pavilion.

Visitors can examine the Monarch life cycle from egg to larva (caterpillar) to pupa (chrysalis) to adult butterfly. Watch citizen scientists tag the Monarchs to track their migration to Mexico.

Check out the butterfly garden plants for sale, enjoy great food from 3 C’s Food Truck, choose from a wide selection of family-friendly gifts available for purchase in the Blue Heron Gift Shop, have a our picture taken as a giant caterpillar or butterfly, walk the trails and get a temporary Monarch tattoo.

A new opportunity at the festival this year will be the Prendergast Library’s tent. Library staff will be giving out free books, doing crafts and having story times every hour. The library will also have its Makerspace stations that relate to different elements of STEAM — science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

Those attending can also enter the basket giveaway for a chance to win prizes, including hand-made Monarch Butterfly artwork, or a butterfly garden.

Explore the butterfly and other outdoor gardens, the Ted Grisez arboretum, and when visiting Liberty, Audubon’s resident Bald Eagle, see the progress on the construction of the new Pamela A. Westrom Wildlife Habitat.

Since 2005, Audubon staff members and volunteers have raised hundreds of Monarch Butterflies from eggs found on Audubon’s grounds to help support Monarch Butterfly populations. The monarchs are carefully tagged with tracking numbers to assist with national efforts to track the Monarch migration prior to their release into the wild.

Audubon’s Monarch-themed educational programs have encouraged many others to raise Monarchs on their own to ensure the species’ survival.

This year, ACNC is helping to raise monarchs from eggs collected from the surrounding area including eggs collected by Chautauqua Institution’s Betsy Burgeson. Burgeson has introduced a variety of butterfly-friendly plants to the Chautauqua Institution grounds.

An avid Monarch fan, she has helped Audubon with collecting and raising the many monarchs that will be released at the festival.

Sponsors for this year’s Monarch Butterfly Festival include: Frucella’s Income Tax Service, Wegmans, Ashville General Store, Jamestown Kitchen and Bath, and Courier Capital Inc. In addition, for helping make this event possible ACNC thanks Audubon Community Partners Curt and Susie Westrom, Carnahan-Jackson Foundation, Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, Holmberg Foundation, Hultquist Foundation, Jessie Smith Darrah Fund, Lenna Foundation, Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation, Bush Industries, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, Scott Electric Foundation, Hal and Mary Conarro, Metallic Ladder Mfg. Corp., Univera Healthcare, and Whirley-Drinkworks.

There are also dozens of volunteers, many of whom are registered with RSVP, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

Festival admission is $8, or $6 for Nature Center members and children ages 3-15. Two and under are free, as is parking.

Festival proceeds directly support Audubon’s Monarch Butterfly research and educational programming.

The Audubon Community Nature Center is located at 1600 Riverside Road, one-quarter mile east of Route 62 between Jamestown and Warren. To learn more about Audubon and its programs, call 569-2345, visit AudubonCNC.org, or find Audubon Community Nature Center on Facebook.