By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rioans are invited to the historic Brown Plaza on Saturday for an all-day celebration of the annual migration of Monarch butterflies through the city.
The Monarch Butterfly Festival will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and will feature a variety of activities for kids and adults, as well as music, dancing, art and a parade and costume contest.
The festival celebrates the annual migration of Monarch butterflies, which make their way through Val Verde County every year on their way to their wintering sites in the oyamel fir forest of central Mexico. Local residents have been reporting Monarch sightings for several weeks already, but the height of the migration has yet to reach the area.
during the Monarch Butterfly Festival on the historic Brown Plaza in south Del Rio from
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
Saturday’s festival opens at 9 a.m. with welcoming remarks from Peter Ojeda, the city’s communications director and one of the festival organizers.
A variety of booths offering educational and fun activities for kids and adults will be open on Brown Plaza for the duration of the festival, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The following organizations will have booths: the National Park Service, San Felipe Creek Coalition, the Val Verde County Library, the Texas Department of Transportation, Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the city gas department, the city transportation department, the Mexican consulate and the Guatemalan consulate.
Del Rio artist Crystal Acevedo, known as “Kiki Ace,” will be at the festival and offer face painting.
At 11:30 a.m., there will be a “Monarch March” parade around Brown Plaza, followed by a costume contest on the Plaza. The city’s nutrition center will also crown a “Monarch Butterfly King” and a “Monarch Butterfly Queen,” who will be presented after the parade.
The Casa De La Cultura’s own folkloric dance troupe, Ballet Folklorico Macuilxochitl, will perform their exuberant, colorful routines on the Brown Plaza from noon to 1:30 p.m.
A variety of music will be played throughout the festival, including sets by Del Rio’s own Angel Baena and lively beats by DJ Yessy, who is from Guatemala.
Art depicting the Monarchs and their epic, multi-generational migration will be on display during the festival, including an installation by Del Rio artist Marco Mares, who created an “altar” honoring the late Homero Gómez González, known as “the guardian of the Monarchs.” Goméz was an environmental activist in Mexico who was the manager of El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve and an outspoken, unflagging champion of these astonishing insects.
A movie featuring Goméz’s life and work, “Guardian of the Monarchs,” will be played during the festival.
Other art featuring the Monarchs will also be on display during the festival, including a booth where youngsters and adults can paint smooth rocks and a booth by Correo Real Mariposa Monarco, an organization from Mexico dedicated to educating the public about Monarch butterflies.
The Southwest Texas College Creative Arts Club will showcase their “Monarch Manor” exhibit outside the Casa De La Cultura, and several Monarch-themed pieces of art from St. James School students will be on display as well.
Photographs of Monarchs in Del Rio by this writer will be on display inside the Casa.
At 2 p.m., there will be a plant and tree giveaway, and throughout the festival, there will games like corn hole toss and putt-putt golf, as well as Monarch-themed photo opportunities.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
