The Bob Jones Nature Center and Preserve is all about celebrating the gifts of our natural Cross Timbers ecosystem. Fall is the best time to come to the Nature Center and participate in the incredible monarch migration phenomenon.
The fourth-annual Monarch Butterfly Festival is happening on Saturday, September 17, 2022, and you don’t want to miss it. Join us as we release hundreds of Monarch Butterflies into the wild and interact with them first-hand! This community favorite program helps our butterfly friends as they make their epic annual journey into Mexico. Our Nature Center staff is ready to make this an event to remember!
The Monarch Festival is split into three one-and-a-half-hour sessions. Each session has the same activities, including crafts, monarch-related games, snacks, a butterfly house, and more! Please arrive on time for your registered session (8:30 am, 10:15 am, 12:00 pm). Stick around after your session to enjoy the beautiful miles of hiking trails at the Preserve!
Please note that if you are later than 30 minutes to your check-in time, we cannot guarantee a butterfly will still be waiting for you to release.
Registration is required for all participants ages three and up. All ages are welcome! Children ages two and under are free (registration is not required).
We’re so excited to celebrate the magnificent Monarch Butterflies with you and your family!
The Bob Jones Nature Center and Preserve is all about celebrating the gifts of our natural Cross Timbers ecosystem. Fall is the best time to come to the Nature Center and participate in the incredible monarch migration phenomenon.
The fourth-annual Monarch Butterfly Festival is happening on Saturday, September 17, 2022, and you don’t want to miss it. Join us as we release hundreds of Monarch Butterflies into the wild and interact with them first-hand! This community favorite program helps our butterfly friends as they make their epic annual journey into Mexico. Our Nature Center staff is ready to make this an event to remember!
The Monarch Festival is split into three one-and-a-half-hour sessions. Each session has the same activities, including crafts, monarch-related games, snacks, a butterfly house, and more! Please arrive on time for your registered session (8:30 am, 10:15 am, 12:00 pm). Stick around after your session to enjoy the beautiful miles of hiking trails at the Preserve!
Please note that if you are later than 30 minutes to your check-in time, we cannot guarantee a butterfly will still be waiting for you to release.
Registration is required for all participants ages three and up. All ages are welcome! Children ages two and under are free (registration is not required).
We’re so excited to celebrate the magnificent Monarch Butterflies with you and your family!
Fall is here, and that means it’s time for one of nature’s most mesmerizing events: the monarch migration!
The Bob Jones Nature Center and Preserve celebrated this spectacular natural phenomenon at the Third Annual Monarch Butterfly Festival last Saturday! In Southlake, we are privileged to live along the Monarch’s migration path on their annual epic journey from Canada to Mexico. As good stewards of our natural environment and the monarch butterflies that lay their eggs in Southlake, it’s up to us to help make their journey a success. Staff at the Bob Jones Nature Center and Preserve loved teaching the community about the importance of this majestic pollinator species. What better way to honor these beautiful insects than with a festival?
Participants marveled at this colorful natural spectacle as we released hundreds of Monarch Butterflies into the wild! Festivalgoers interacted with these insects first-hand and enjoyed multiple butterfly-themed goodies and activities.
This year the event was broken up into three release sessions to ensure an intimate and safe experience. Participants could sign up for a session at 9:00 am, 10:30 am, or 12:00 pm.
“The Monarch Butterfly Festival was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate monarchs and educate the community about them. The festival presented a fun way to spend family time exploring the Preserve, while also learning about how we can help monarchs and other wildlife right here in Southlake! This year, we released 450 monarchs. All our butterflies were tagged with Monarch Watch stickers to track their migration to Mexico. It was an absolute joy to host an event that is for guests and our wildlife,” Hannah Nyquist, Outdoor Experience Coordinator.
We loved celebrating the beginning of Fall and one of nature’s most phenomenal events with you at the Bob Jones Nature Center and Preserve! Make sure to catch us at our upcoming Open House on Saturday, September 25!
