For more than five hours Saturday on Oak Grove’s Walter Garrett Lane, thousands waited patiently for three minutes of magic, in what was the borderline religious release of 2,000-plus monarch butterflies back into the wild for their mission to Mexico.
The culminating moment of the 14th Annual Butterfly Festival froze families in place along the hill behind the Viceroy, many hoping to receive the sweet kiss and fluttering glimpse of nature’s nicest creature.
Traci Cunningham, Oak Grove’s executive director of tourism and brainchild of the celebration, shared Indian folklore about the butterfly — before the cage doors flew open, granting freedom.
Butterflies then filled the warm, blue sky. Dreams were whispered. Wishes were granted.
Was it perfect weather? Heavy promotion? Word of mouth? Cunningham didn’t know. But she called it the “best attended” Butterfly Festival yet, with plenty of reason to keep the tradition going for years to come.
It was 15 years ago, Cunningham said, when she created and produced it in conjunction with the state’s insect: the viceroy butterfly.
Oak Grove has a building named such, and has a butterfly garden. Cunningham noted putting two and two together made too much sense, due to its complete and utter uniqueness.
While local flora and fauna are involved in the party, those released are actually shipped in from Florida — carefully frozen and sealed, before arriving into south Christian County in need of a humidor to wake from the summer slumber.
The ones that did sprint out of the gates, however, were treated like royalty.
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