The Laker/Lutz News

Monarch City USA

This Dade City festival paid homage to Monarch butterflies

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Cindy Smith, a recently retired Pasco County Schools art teacher and Land O’ Lakes resident, displays her craft business, Be Dazzled, at the festival. She specializes in handcrafted beaded and clay jewelry, as well as other unique items. (Kelli Carmack)

The Dade City Monarch Butterfly Festival celebrated a winged creature that is perhaps North America’s best-known butterfly.

The Dade City Garden Club and Dade City Youth Council teamed up to present the festivities, which took place on Oct. 23, at Hibiscus Park in Dade City.

Those wishing to do a little shopping could choose from native plants, handcrafted jewelry, pottery and other items.

There were educational displays and presentations on monarch butterflies, raffles and plenty of hands-on activities for the kids.

Dade City was proclaimed a “Monarch City USA” back in 2019. The designation refers to the city’s efforts to maintain the survival of monarch butterflies.

For more information about the Dade City Garden club, visit DadeCityGardenClub.com.

Note: See a short video with scenes from the festival at https://business.facebook.com/LakerLutzNews/videos/923321675272194/.

Published November 03, 2021

Lanky Lassie’s Shortbread, a bakery in Dade City, was among many vendors at the festival. Owner Mary Katherine Mason offers free samples of some of her most popular flavors such as dark chocolate caramel pecan, chocolate chip and guava. Mason, a Dade City native, got into the spirit of the event by getting herself a butterfly face painting.
Betsy Krumsick is ecstatic getting her face painted by Gina Allison, owner of Gigi and Friends Entertainment, a party service that offered butterfly face paintings, complimentary of Lanky Lassie’s Shortbread, at the festival.
A little girl pretends she’s a butterfly at the Dade City Monarch Butterfly Festival. The event had lots of opportunities, for young and old alike, to have a good time and appreciate the beauty of monarch butterflies.
Rebecca Norris, a teacher at Rodney B. Cox Elementary School in Dade City, volunteers as a stilt walker at the butterfly festival. She’s been experimenting in circus art for the past six years.

Create a Monarch haven and help the ecosystem

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Pat Hendricks, left, of The Highlands at Scotland Yard, accepts her Monarch Haven yard sign from Julie Hale, a member of the garden club and the certification team. (Courtesy of the Dade City Garden Club)

Monarch butterflies are among the most easily recognizable of the butterfly species with their brilliant orange and black coloring.

Monarch migration is one of the greatest natural phenomena in the world.

After noting that Monarchs were not as visible in recent years, the Dade City Garden Club did some research and found that nearly 1 billion Monarchs had vanished since 1990, with the loss of habitat and pesticide use among the reasons for the decline.

In October 2018, the Dade City Garden Club began discussions with the city’s mayor and the Dade City Commission on having Dade City declared a Monarch City USA.

A proclamation was issued in March 2019, which came with a pledge “to work together to restore habitat for the brilliant butterfly species in the community.”

The Dade City Garden Club’s annual ornament fundraiser this year recognizes Dade City as a Monarch City USA. Ornaments cost $22, and the proceeds are used to maintain the club’s historic building and grounds, and to support community projects. The ornaments can be purchased from any garden club member or at The Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce office. (Courtesy of The Dade City Chamber of Commerce)

The Dade City Garden Club now has launched a program to encourage the community to create Monarch Butterfly Havens.

A haven contains milkweed and other larval plants to support the species’ breeding process, nectar plants to feed the adult butterflies, and is maintained without the use of pesticides.

Upon certification (a free community service), the gardener is awarded a customized certificate and can purchase a sign to display in their yard.

The program encourages education and joy, but also helps to sustain the ecosystem and to produce natural resources by helping plants reproduce.

Tips for creating a haven for Monarchs are included in the application for certification, which is limited to gardens within the Dade City zip code areas (33523, 33525, 33526) and to members of the Dade City Garden Club.

Applications can be picked up at City Hall, The Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce, The Hugh Embry Branch Library, and area plant nurseries, including Cindy Seifert Art Garden, Cindy’s Secret Place, and the Gardens Nursery and Rock Yard.

For information or a digital application, email .

The garden club has scheduled a plant sale for Oct. 24 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., which will feature plants propagated by the club members, including pesticide-free butterfly plants.

Published September 23, 2020

Dade City to hold first monarch festival

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Dade City is getting ready for its first Monarch Butterfly Festival.

The Dade City Monarch Butterfly Festival will offer visitors insightful tips on caring for the monarch butterfly species. (Courtesy of Dade City Garden Club)

The Oct. 12 event, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will celebrate Dade City’s induction as a  Monarch City USA. The designation refers to the city’s efforts in maintaining the survival of monarch butterflies.

Vendors will offer food and items for sale, including pottery, birdbaths, metal art and jewelry, to name just a few of the options.

The day also includes educational presentations on the monarch butterflies. There will be butterflies there, too, of course, as well as their eggs and caterpillars.

Plants will be on sale, too, including milkweed – a nutritional source for monarch butterflies.

There will be a kids’ area where butterfly-themed crafts can be designed and photos can be taken with an oversized butterfly.

Visitors will be able to take a stroll and view wildlife, and also can purchase tickets for a chance to win a hand-crafted potting bench. Tickets will sell for $2 each, or six for $10.

Admission and parking are free.

The function will be held at Hibiscus Park at Seventh Street and Bougainvillea Avenue in Dade City. It is being presented by the Dade City Garden Club and the Dade City Youth Council.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Out of Our Hands Gallery, 14245 Seventh St. in Dade City or on the day of the event.

For additional information, contact Joan Hepscher at (908) 890-4630 or at .

What: Dade City Monarch Butterfly Festival

Where: Hibiscus Park, Seventh Street and Bougainvillea Avenue in Dade City

When: Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Cost: Free

Details: Dade City will celebrate its induction as a Monarch City USA, which means it aims to help maintain the survival of monarch butterflies. Educational presentations and plant sales will be available, along with activities for kids.

Info: contact Joan Hepscher at (908) 890-4630 or at .

Published October 2, 2019

 

Dade City is established as butterfly sanctuary

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Dade City has been inducted as a Monarch City USA – pledging to help preserve the monarch butterfly population.

In March, the city joined the ranks of four other Florida municipalities in addressing the plight facing these endangered insects.

The idea of seeking the designation was initiated by the Dade City Garden Club.

Nanette O’ Hara, a master gardener who lives in Hillsborough County, captured this photograph of a Monarch butterfly. (Courtesy of Nanette O’Hara)

After the scarcity of the butterfly species became a topic of discussion at a board meeting last year, club members felt compelled to take action.

“When we did our research and saw the numbers drastically declining, that was alarming,” said Joan Hepscher, a club member.

They studied the guidelines of the Monarch City USA organization during meetings in 2018, and earlier this year the club approached a longtime supporter of theirs for help – Dade City Mayor Camille Hernandez.

She was instantly on board in helping to move the project forward.

“I have come to know and respect the garden club,” Hernandez said. “My line is: ‘How can I help you?’”

The mayor then brought up the issue as an agenda item before the Dade City Commission, which ultimately approved the project.

The mayor signed a proclamation in March to establish Dade City as a Monarch City USA.

This national organization was formed in 2015 to help prevent the extinction of monarch butterflies.

It gets to the heart of the matter, addressing the lack of milkweed and nectar plants – the butterflies’ food source.

Limited nutrition is due, in part, to harsh weather conditions during winter seasons.

Dade City has become a Monarch City USA. Here, Joan Hepscher, of the Dade City Garden Club, is being assisted by Jim West, of DeLand, which also is a Monarch City USA. (Courtesy of Sally Redden)

A 2016 study revealed that during the past two decades, the monarch population dropped by 68 percent, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

Through Monarch City USA, municipalities across the United States are encouraged to join the effort in populating their land with milkweed and nectar plants.

Hepscher noted that when monarchs migrate from Canada to the U.S., and then to Mexico, they need to have “way stations.”

“As they fly, they need to have places to stop, eat, refresh and lay their eggs for the next generation,” she explained.

While this is beneficial to the monarchs, it also contributes to the circle of life for other insects.

Butterflies are just one of many pollinators who work as a team to provide nourishment for each other.

Thus, the Garden Club sees their efforts as being two-fold, not only preserving the monarchs, but wildlife on a whole.

On March 16, they had a monarch butterfly seminar to educate the public on how they can contribute in their own backyards.

The club will grant certificates to residents who follow simple guidelines, such as planting milkweed and nectar in their gardens.

The club will hold itself to those same standards, planting on its premises outside the clubhouse, as well.

In the pre-butterfly stage, caterpillars also benefit by eating the plant leaves down to uneven shapes.

Hepscher said that although they may not look aesthetically pleasing, the unshapely leaves serve their purpose.

“This plant is doing its job because it was here to feed the caterpillars, and it’s done that,” she stated.

Adults aren’t the only ones who are encouraged to join in the effort.

Hernandez has enlisted the city’s youth council to help on the project.

The Garden Club also has twice-a-year programs at the Hugh Embry Library for kids called ‘Nature Detectives.’

In these classes, the youth watch videos, do crafts and are involved in other activities to help them learn about the animal kingdom.

“We do believe educating children is the way to change the future and getting them to respect nature,” Hepscher said.

In some ways, the kids may be ahead of the game as they’ve already studied the monarch butterflies in depth.

The Monarch City USA designation includes the opportunity to display a Monarch City USA sign, which has not yet arrived.

The city is planning a fall festival to celebrate its induction as a Monarch City USA. It also plans additional educational seminars.

The Garden Club hopes that such events are held annually to encourage the preservation of wildlife.

“We feel we can take control of the future and we can make it better here in Dade City,” Hepscher stated.

Published April 24, 2019