Celebrate the Minneapolis Monarch Festival Sept. 7

The annual Minneapolis Monarch Festival will return to the city on Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Lake Nokomis Naturescape Gardens.

According to a Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board release, the free event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and features a fresh line up of performers and art activities, food from Minnesota and beyond, games for kids, monarchs and habitat education and the Kids Butterfly Fun Run.

The following is the rest of the press release:

Presented by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB), Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA), University of Minnesota Monarch Lab and Community Celebration of Place, the festival highlights the monarch’s 2,300 mile migration from Minnesota to the mountains of Central Mexico.

The Nokomis Naturescape Gardens features a variety of native grass and wildflower gardens that been certified as a Monarch Waystation. The gardens contain perennial native plants that provide habitat and food sources that are essential to the survival of monarch butterflies.

Monarch Activities and Education

• Tag and release monarchs with the University of Minnesota Monarch Lab
• Learn about the monarch’s life cycle and the Monarch Migration
• Explore the Nokomis Naturescape Gardens and look for monarchs
• Learn how to invite monarchs into your own yard
• Purchase plants to add to your garden that monarchs need and love
• Find out how to get your yard certified as a Monarch Waystation

Kids Butterfly Fun Run

The Kids Butterfly Fun Run offers separate runs for four different age groups for children  ages 1 – 12 and awards prizes for first, second and third place finishers and best monarch costumes in younger age groups. The $7 registration fee (checks or cash only – make checks out to "NENA”) includes an official Butterfly Fun Run t-shirt for youth participants. Proceeds from the run benefit butterfly habitats in Minneapolis parks and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve located in Michoacán, Mexico. The Kids Butterfly Fun Run is sponsored by UCare and Univision Minnesota. More information and registration details for the Kids Butterfly Fun Run can be found at www.monarchfestival.org.

Live Music and Dance

We have an exciting stage line up for the 2013 Monarch Festival with performances from:

• Silva Sol
• Machinery Hill
• Ketzal Coatilcue Aztec Dance group
• RAMM (rhythm and blues, rock, funk, Motown).
• Charanga Tropical (Caribbean inspired flute, violins and Latin rhythm section)
• Salsa del Soul (high energy Bachata, Plena and Salsa music)

Art and Fun Activities

• Printmaking by steamroller with ArtOrg and Grupo Sopa del Corazon
• Make milkweed seed mudballs for planting in your home garden
• Help create a large monarch themed collage
• Play Monarch Bingo, the Amazing Migration  game and Monarch Jeopardy
• Create an origami butterfly
• Printing with plants
• Art in the Park with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
• And a variety of hands-on activities with Project Art for Nature

Additional support for this event is provided by Univision Minnesota, the US Forest Service International Program, UCare and the Mexican Consulate. Art and music programming is funded by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Detailed information on the stage lineup, the Butterfly Fun Run, art activities, monarch tagging, and the Nokomis Naturescape can be found at www.monarchfestival.org.

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