Setting the butterflies free

One of the community’s most loved events is Butterfly Day at EmilyAnn Theatre and Gardens. Kids of all ages would don butterfly shirts and dress as butterflies as thousands of caged butterflies would be set free to feast on cantaloupe that was held in your hand.

Okay, okay, the pandemic has ruined release in April for last year and this, but the virtual release goes on. “The Butterfly Festival is not on the grounds, again this year, but they will be providing magic to 175 classrooms across the area,” Ann Rolling, Executive Director of EmilyAnn, said.

The butterflies are Painted Ladies because; “we can feed them on specially prepared food, rather than Monarchs that needs milkweed.” The specially prepared food is a mixture of soy, molasses and vegetables.

About 2,700 larvae were delivered and will grow into chrysalis and then continue into a butterfly that will be released in school gardens. Keeping the chrysalis misted is a must for growth.

But once it emerges into the butterfly, misting stops and feeding of cotton balls soaked with Gatorade begins. Watching and learning about life cycles, the students can see it firsthand or virtually in the butterfly’s progression.

The roots of the Butterfly Festival run deep. Emily Ann was the daughter of Ann and Norm Rolling and while visiting her grave in the cemetery, a five yearold approached Ann and said he had a birthday present for ‘Miss Ann’ that was a chrysalis. It was released in the cemetery. “It did a job on all of us,” said Ann. “It was a healing, believing, peace for Norm and I, and we wanted to share.”

In the spring of 1999, the first official Butterfly Day was held and the festival grew each year to become the premier event of spring in Wimberley and Texas, with butterfly art and shirt contests and then the big release on the grounds.

“In April of ’99, Dorey Schmidt released 36 half frozen larvae. That day to this day we’ve released 4,500 per year, non-Covid years.”

The pageantry of Butterfly Day will resume in 2022, but of course safety is the first priority. “Butterfly Day never fails to bring hope and inspiration to thousands.”

The gardens part of the EmilyAnn Theatre and Gardens has remained open for visitors as well as the Virtual grounds. The Children’s and Veterans Memorials are a good place for a release. “The hill represents hope… We’ve opened up the view, the new turf has held up as well as new the benches.”

But just like the rest of us, the winter storm had a huge impact on the plants. Master Naturalist Susan Decker is now replacing them with Central Texas native plants.

As for the theatre part of EmilyAnn, Shakespeare Under the Stars is a go and is returning this summer. Other theatre performances are also back on the schedule for this summer and fall as well. More activity as the country opens up, as Summer Camps are in the planning stages, and a revamped Trail of Lights returns in December.

“We’ve put the Covid time to good use. We’ve been fast at work.” A brand new 1,800-square-foot classroom and multi-purpose building has just opened and the grounds look completely different with cedar clearing and other improvements.

“But of course it couldn’t be possible without the local community and patrons of EmilyAnn, a big shout-out to them. Their support is greatly appreciated,” EmilyAnn Board President Dr. Steve Utts said.

For more information about Butterfly Day and other EmilyAnn events, see their website at emilyann.org