Celebrating the monarch: Carnegie hosts 2nd Butterfly Fest
Folks fluttered to downtown Carnegie over the weekend to celebrate a beloved orange and black beauty at the borough’s second annual Monarch Butterfly Festival.
“Everyone gets into the spirit of it,” said Deneen Underwood, administrative assistant for Carnegie Borough, who helped coordinate Sunday’s event. “We have a lot of vendors, farmers market vendors; they sell a lot of butterfly-themed things.”
The Monarch Butterfly Festival was held during the weekly Carnegie Farmers Market, and shoppers had the opportunity to stock up on fresh local produce and to take a monarch butterfly-friendly nectar plant for the road.
“I used to raise monarch butterflies with my mom and we would go to Phipps for the butterfly show,” said Alyssa Hoffmann, who stopped by the Shade Tree Commission’s booth for a white-tufted plant. “We have a little backyard garden, so I’m happy to get milkweed.”
Hoffmann also took home lavender and another plant that monarch butterflies feed on, which Bob Podurgiel, a member of the Shade Tree Commission, happily handed to her.
Podurgiel and other STC members devoted several hours last month to planting milkweed throughout Carnegie Borough as part of Mayor Stacie Riley’s initiative to bring back the monarch butterflies.
“We used to see more. You can really notice a difference. I used to see them, and now I don’t,” said Underwood. “It’s going to take some time, but we’re really trying to draw them here.”
The monarch butterfly population has for years been decreasing. The eastern monarch butterfly, which once danced on Southwestern Pennsylvanian breezes and fluttered about this area, has plummeted by more than 80% in the last three decades, according to the World Wildlife Foundation.
The western monarch population (which flies west of the Rocky Mountains) has fallen by 99%.
Though the monarch butterfly qualified for the endangered species list in 2020, other species took precedence and were added to the list instead.
In 2021, the Center for Biological Diversity announced the monarch butterfly population was in crisis. That year, Riley signed the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayor Monarch Pledge, committing the borough to actionable steps to revitalize the local monarch population.
“That was when we began our efforts toward conservation,” said Underwood. “As we’ve learned more about (monarch butterflies), we’ve learned how much their population really has dwindled. (Riley) wanted to be a part of it because she’s always loved monarchs.”
Pledge-takers promise to complete three of 30 actionable items, and those mayors who complete 24 or more actions are recognized as Monarch Champions.
Last year, Carnegie Borough was invited into the Leaders Circle for its conservation efforts (the borough completed 21 actions).
Dual-purpose rain gardens, which draw monarchs and other pollinators into town and absorb storm water, were completed in 2021, and the Shade Tree Commission has for the last two years planted milkweed throughout the borough.
Riley enlisted local artist Alicia Kesnick to continue her downtown beautification efforts through the installation of a monarch butterfly sculpture, which raises awareness of the monarch population’s decline.
Carnegie Borough was awarded a $3,200 Duquesne Light Community Impact Grant to host this year’s Butterfly Fest. Underwood said most of the grant was spent on plants and seeds, which were handed out to festival attendees.
Milkweed is the only plant on which monarch butterflies lay eggs. Climate change, coupled with herbicide use, has led to fewer milkweed plants, which, in turn, contributes to the monarch’s declining numbers.
One of the easiest – and best – things an individual can do to encourage the repopulation of the monarch species is simply to plant native milkweed and other pollinator plants in their backyards.
It’s especially important to create a welcoming space for monarchs in Southwestern Pennsylvania, which serves as a rest stop for the orange and black insects during their annual migration south, to Mexico. The journey – thousands of butterflies flapping more than 2,500 miles – is considered a natural world wonder, and just as impressive is the multi-generational journey home, from Mexico northward.
On their way north, monarchs lay eggs on milkweed plants in Pennsylvania, setting in motion the next great migration.
“One of their corridors was to come through Pennsylvania and to head north,” said Underwood, who hopes the borough’s emphasis on education inspires locals to get involved in the mayor’s repopulation efforts.
It’s going to take Carnegie and the wider community to save the monarchs.
Hoffmann was crestfallen to learn Sunday the monarch butterfly was last week added to the global endangered species list. But she, along with so many other festival-goers, plans to plant native pollinator plants and do a small part in regenerating a beautiful creature.
Riley declared July 31 Monarch Butterfly Day in Carnegie Borough, and during the festival, folks learned about the butterfly’s decline and how to make a difference at home. Kids of all ages were welcome to color butterfly pictures and have their faces painted, too.
“I really hope that we see butterflies this year,” said Underwood. “We’ve had such good reception (to the festival), we feel that next year will be even better and we might start to see a number of butterflies coming through. The more people that are involved, that will definitely attract more and, we hope, repopulate the monarch butterflies.”
Added Podurgiel, as he handed out seeds and watering cans in the Shade Tree Commission booth, “I’m hoping we’re in time to help them.”
Karen Mansfield contributed reporting to this story.