Chattahoochee Nature Center's Butterfly Festival This Weekend

What: Flying Colors Butterfly Festival
Where: Chattahoochee Nature Center, Willeo Rd., Roswell, Ga.
When: Sat. July 17, 9 am – 2 pm and Sun. July 18 12 – 5 pm
Cost: $8 CNC Members/$10 Non-Members, Children 2 and under FREE

This is one of my favorite festivals for the kids. It’s been a few years since we’ve been, but from the website, it looks like it’s still going strong and even growing!

The main event is the butterfly release, where the Center lets the swallowtail butterflies go. Release times are 10 and 12:30 on Saturday and 1:30 and 3:30 on Sunday. The releases can get crowded, and every time we’ve been, it’s been REALLY hot, so bring an extra dose of patience if you want to get up close for the butterfly release.

Although the release is the main event, there are TONS of other activities including face painting, crafts and some fabulous entertainers. This year’s entertainment includes Andy Offut Irwin and his Environmental Epic Show! If you’ve never seen Andy, I promise your cheeks will hurt from smiling so much. During his show, kids can meet a piece of talking fruit, a cricket that lives in the kudzu and bullfrog tadpoles yearning to break free from a pickle jar! On Sunday Mr. Greg’s Musical Madness entertains with an interactive sing along celebration.

There is also a butterfly costume parade led by Ms. Chrysalis, a pollinator scavenger hunt and a center where kids can build a fairy or gnome house out of natural objects. American Girl is sponsoring a Nature Activity Day with Lanie, American Girl Doll’s 2010 Girl of the Year. Not sure if that means Lanie will actually be there or if there are just American Girl themed activities. Either way, there is a ton of fun to be had at the Chattahoochee Nature Center this weekend.