Mountain Monarch Festival

UPDATE: EVENT CANCELED! Due to extreme weather conditions, the Mountain Monarch Festival has been canceled for this year. Gorges State Park will be closed from Wed., Sept. 25 through Sun., Sept. 29 out of an abundance of caution. Please visit us next year as we celebrate the migration of these marvelous monarchs!

Gorges State Park in Transylvania County will host its third annual Mountain Monarch Festival at the park’s visitor center. The festival celebrates the monarch butterfly during its migration and brings attention to the species’ declining numbers.

The festival will offer educational programs and exhibits featuring the monarch butterfly, including monarch-themes children’s crafts, food trucks, a live photo board, face painting by Color Me Happy, local art for sale and a Monarch Migration Passport to lead families through monarch-themed activities. The featured speaker, Joyce Pearsall, Conservation Specialist with Monarch Watch and a Master Gardener, will speak about “The World of Monarch Butterflies.” Other speaker sessions include “Monarch Life Cycle and Tagging,” by Brian Bockhahn, education specialist for the Noth Carolina State Parks, and “Butterfly Gardening,” by Bryan Thompkins, wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The event, activities and programs are free and open to the public. Registration is required and is available until 8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 27. Please register here. Registration will close once we reach capacity, so register early. The event will be held rain or shine.

The Mountain Monarch Festival is sponsored by Friends of Gorges State Park and organized in partnership with Monarch Watch, Transylvania County Tourism Development Authority, Transylvania County Library, N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, N.C. Department of Commerce, Transylvania County 4-H, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, N.C. Aquariums, and Native Plant Society’s Land and Sky and Oconee Bell Chapters.