By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — Cheyenne Bottoms and most of western Kansas remain dry. Drought-like conditions have caused Kansas Wetlands Education Center staff to rethink some of its programming this year, but the annual Butterfly Festival cannot be stopped. The event has been limited the past few years but returns to full glory on Saturday, Sept. 17.
"We are having to make some adjustments," said KWEC Director Curtis Wolf. "Until you go through something like this, you don't realize how much it affects our programming. We're booked solid with schools, typically, in the fall and we are this year. A lot of the programs we do are getting the kids out in the water, looking for the aquatic inverts. We're not able to do that."
Approximately 60 treasure hunters attended a recent KWEC event in the now-dry pools at the Bottoms. Saturday, KWEC will host its minnow races at the Labor Day Celebration in Hoisington. But the big event each year is the Butterfly Festival, and Wolf hopes the migrating insects will cooperate.
"There again, with it being as dry as it is, and there's not just a ton of flowers out there," he said. "We kind of question how long the monarchs might stick around. Hopefully, we'll time it right, they'll be coming through right at that time, and we'll have access to a lot of the monarchs."
The event runs from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 17. The tagging portion involves catching monarchs with a net and applying a small sticker to the wings. Approximately 500 butterflies were tagged at the event last year, and nearly a dozen were later found in Mexico.
"That's an incredible thing," Wolf said. "It does provide some interesting research for the scientists studying the monarchs. That's why we do it. And it's really fun."
Many events return to this year's festival, including the insect zoo and wildflower seed bomb launch. Kansas City-based StoneLion Puppet Theater returns for two performances of "Backyard Buggin," and Barton Community College's Dance Theater will perform twice and conduct a short dance workshop for children ages 5-10, complete with costumes. All the festival events are free, but pre-registration is required for the dance workshop.
Cover image courtesy Pixabay