Fourth Annual Newton Monarch Festival

The  Fourth Annual Newton Monarch Festival is on Saturday, September 14 from 9 am – 11:30 am  (rain date, September 15) in Wellington Park, West Newton (entrances on Kilburn Road and Princess Road).   Attendance is FREE and preregistration is encouraged if you would like to be notified of any weather related changes or other pollinator related events.  Monarch Festival is cosponsored by  Newton Conservators, Newton Parks Recreation and Culture Department, Newton Community Pollinator Project, Green Newton, Friends of Cold Spring Park,  Friends of Wellington Park, and Mothers Out Front Newton

We will have:

• Butterfly Oriented Kids Games, Activities, and Crafts
• Native milkweed seed and plant exchange
• Butterfly Garden Tours
• Live Monarchs in different stages – egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly
• Butterfly information and Monarch release
• Butterfly Related Prize Drawings for registered attendees

Kids have a natural fascination with nature and butterflies and will enjoy seeing the live caterpillars, the chrysalis stage, and some just emerged adult Monarchs which will be released.  We will have a variety of butterfly themed games,  arts & craft projects, activities, and coloring sheets courtesy of Newton Parks, Recreation, and Culture Department.

If you have milkweed plants, seeds, or seed pods  to share please bring them along to our Exchange table. Please label seeds (in small bags or envelopes) and plants according to the type of milkweed. We will provide a general sheet with planting instructions and guidelines.  Monarchs rely on milkweed for their survival (for laying eggs and as food for their caterpillar stage.)  Tour the local gardens at Wellington Park that have lots of native milkweed and other pollinator plants.  Meet and learn from local Monarch experts who  maintain official Monarch Waystations and raise a few monarchs from egg to butterfly for educational purposes.

If you want to attract Monarchs to your garden, consider planting milkweed native to New England such as Common Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, or Butterfly Weed.  Monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed plants and the hatched caterpillars feed on the leaves before turning into a chrysalis.  Monarchs also need other native plants to feed on after emerging from their chrysalis.   We will have  free milkweed plants and seeds at the festival for you to plant in your garden.  Consider attending our Winter Seed Sowing workshop to see how to successfully give your milkweed seeds a head start for the spring (Date to be announced).   To learn more about gardening with native plants, consider attending our free Newton Pollinator Garden Tour on the next day, Sunday, September 15 from 1-4 pm.

DIRECTIONS AND PARKING

Wellington Park is located in West Newton  a few blocks  north of West Newton Square.  It is not directly located on any major streets.  There are two entrances to the park – one on Kilburn Road and another on Princess Road (near Princess and Lindbergh Ave).   It should be noted that parking is only permitted on the southbound side of Kilburn Road since it is relatively narrow.   Henshaw Street, Henshaw Place, Henshaw Terrace, Lindbergh Avenue,  Southgate Park, Northgate Park, and Byrd Ave are all nearby streets where you can find on-street parking.  These other streets in the neighborhood do not have parking restrictions but it would be courteous to neighbors to park on the same side as you see most other cars.