BETHEL — Mahoosuc Land Trust’s annual Monarch Festival will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14, at Valentine Farm Conservation Center, 162 North Road.
Admission is free, and the event will follow the Mahoosuc Land Trust Annual Meeting at 11 a.m.
The festival is family-focused and aims to inspire visitors to bring nature into their lives. Activities include garden tours, bird walks, Bugs In Maine exhibit, story times, fairy house building, Bethel Area Arts and Music activities, local arts and crafts vendors, raffle, scavenger hunt and lawn games. Lunch is provided while it lasts. Oxbow Brewing Company will also sell pizza and beer, with proceeds going to Mahoosuc Land Trust.
“The first Monarch Festival in 2021 was a blowout success,” MLT Executive Director Kirk Siegel said “We raised awareness about the critical role of Maine’s pollinators and the importance of protecting a wide variety of habitats. As important as they are, our large-scale conservation projects alone will not sustain a healthy planet. The Festival celebrates our view that the conservation movement needs more involvement by people willing to invest time and energy enhancing backyards and public spaces to create habitat for birds, bees and other pollinators.”
Monarchs are among the most visible and best known of the local pollinators to frequent Mahoosuc Land Trust’s Habitat for All garden and make a logical poster species for an educational event. They are also critically endangered primarily due to habitat loss.
For information, visit Mahoosuc.org.
