Carnegie’s Butterfly Festival helps provide pollinator education
The community of Carnegie has taken another step toward educating residents about pollinators, including monarch butterflies, due to their dwindling numbers.
That educational activity came in the form of the sixth annual Carnegie Butterfly Festival, held Aug. 23 alongside the Carnegie Farmers Market.
The festival began in 2020 and then-Mayor Stacie Riley signed a pledge in 2021, marking the beginning of the butterfly festivities. The Mayor’s Monarch Pledge has been signed each year since.
Sam Bigham, the current mayor of Carnegie, continued the butterfly tradition with this year’s festival. With the fees gained from the weekly farmers markets, volunteers as well as the Shade Tree Commission provided free plants and supplies to area residents.
Bigham said people are surprised to see plants and supplies handed out for free. “But the Farmers Market pays for it,” he said, “and it’s a good way to give back to the community.”
Bigham said one of his pledges was to improve sustainability in the borough, so he was happy to continue Riley’s pledge and help people plant native nectars in their yards.
“Pollinators, like monarch butterflies and bees and other insects, are incredibly important to our ecosystem and food supply,” Bigham said. “The modern world can’t survive without them, so it is very important that we work to restore their habitats.
“I encourage everyone able to plant native nectars in their yards and to create their own pollinator garden. It is usually easier than planting non-native plants and I think they look nice.”
Bigham said the borough has completed several projects each year related to education, awareness and habitat restoration. For example, the borough has sponsored or worked with community partners to paint monarch butterfly-themed murals in town. The recently renamed Monarch Shelter features a mural painting of monarch butterflies on one side by artist Alison Zapata and community volunteers.
Bigham noted that a quarter-century ago, more than a billion eastern monarchs migrated to Mexico, but in the winter of 2014, only 60 million made the trip. Bigham estimated that the population has likely doubled since then.
“But much more work is needed,” he added.
Gina James, a member of the borough’s Shade Tree Commission, said that the ultimate goal of the festival is for everyone to be able to make a butterfly garden and provide for our pollinators. Without the pollinators, the communities would lose much of the produce and resources readily available today.
Each butterfly market provides different plants and items for residents to either add to their own gardens or even to try something new.
James said that for butterflies, the asters and the goldenrods are the pollinating plants, the food that butterflies need. The milkweed is a plant needed for butterflies to lay their eggs, she said.
By providing each of these plants, both shelter and a place for butterflies to reproduce, the commission is encouraging residents to discover ways to further help pollinators.
Another factor involved in choosing the plants for the festival is whether they are native to the area. With native plants, residents do not have to provide the plant with much for it to thrive. The plant survives mostly on its own and does not duplicate enough to overtake gardens.
Another volunteer, Mary Zuccaro, has dedicated much of her time to sharing with as many as people as possible how pollinators provide for us. Since retiring, she has handed out pamphlets to promote pollinator gardening everywhere she goes, especially in Carnegie.
The paper she provides includes a link to the protected pollinator land and houses in Carnegie as well as in neighboring towns.
Although the market occurs once a week, the butterfly festival is still a great resource for vendors. Catherine Giles, a full-time vendor at the Carnegie Farmers Markets, said that the market is a good way to “recover from life problems because of the community.”
"I love getting to know people and the Butterfly Festival is very well attended,” she said. “Butterflies are very foundational in my appreciation of nature, which is why I promote this festival.”
Giles actively participates in the festival because it brings her closer to the people who support her business and the other vendors around her. A friend she has made at the markets, Gina Dellasalla, said that the markets are a good way to spread awareness of nature. Both of them can be found each Sunday at the market, and they plan to hold booths for several years to come.
The butterfly festival will continue in the future due to Bigham’s signing of the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge. He plans to continue this tradition in any way possible to educate residents of Carnegie about the relationship between humans and pollinators.
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