Top Left: Siena Barreto holds a butterfly as it eats on her watermelon at the annual Butterfly Festival at EmilyAnn Theatre and Gardens.
Top Right: One butterfly found themselves a piece of watermelon for them to eat off of. This was the first Butterfly Festival held since the pandemic began.
At left: Margarita Oviedo must be lucky. She doesn’t even need the watermelon to hold her butterfly.
Natalie Burris and Rebecca Burris take their picture with Snow White. PHOTO BY COLTON MCWILLIAMS/WIMBERLEY VIEW
Bailey Martinez works on her craft project for Butterfly Day.
Natalie Burris holds her watermelon slice as a butterfly eats on it.
Analisa Cruz, Isabella Cruz and Luis Cruz all show off their painted faces at Butterfly Festival.
The resurrection of BUTTERFLY DAY
The 22nd Annual Butterfly Festival has burst out of its two-year chrysalis transformed with perhaps one its biggest crowds in their history.
The return of the Butterfly Festival was a big success for EmilyAnn Theatre and Gardens, which saw many guests come to their 12-acre park to celebrate the festival while enjoying the beauty that are butterflies.
For Ann Rolling, owner of the EmilyAnn Theater, Butterfly day was a huge success.
“Butterfly Day on the 23rd of April of this year was a roaring success,” Ann Rolling said. “It was a bit windy but no rain and too much wind but we started off on top of the hill and then the festival continued oun throughout the day. Butterflies are still the hit item so everyone wants to watch a butterfly fly around. No matter what else we offer, butterflies are the number one ticket around.”
The festival was full of kids and adults alike releasing butterflies throughout EmilyAnn while enjoying activities such as face painting, arts and crafts, bounce houses, train rides and many more all after the releasing of the memorial butterflies on top of the hill in honor of those who were lost this past year.
Students from as far as Frisco Independent School District, as well as other high schools in Texas, participated by showing their artwork featuring butterflies from all shapes and sizes to the guests.
It was what Rolling described as an emerging day for her as nearly every inch of the EmilyAnn park was used for everyone’s enjoyment.
“We had Frisco Independent School District students do art, many people coming out of Dallas, and many special people releasing memorial butterflies at the beginning of our day,” Rolling said. “But what about the small child that watches a butterfly fly so yes I feel like I’ve too have come out of a cocoon and I’ve emerged. Today was an emerging day and we had people happy, free, and using every inch of our 12 acres today to celebrate.”
With the success of the Butterfly Festival, expect next year to be just as fun for all.