| May 20, 2005 Mount
Magazine State Park, Ark. - Visitors can explore the
magical world of butterflies, and learn about
butterfly identification, life cycles, gardening,
and photography during the 9th annual Mount Magazine
International Butterfly Festival set for June 24-26.
Presenting seminars and guided hikes will be Lori
Spencer, entomologist and science education director
for the festival, and Don Simons, an interpreter at
Mount Magazine State Park. Their programs will focus
on the Diana Fritillary, the "showcase butterfly" at
the park. In addition to the Diana Fritillary, |
Mount Magazine |
the park
provides habitat for over 95 recorded butterflies.
Under the right conditions, visitors may see 30-plus
butterfly species during the festival.
Tim Ernst and Janet Carson will be featured
speakers. Ernst, a wilderness photographer
specializing in Arkansas landscapes, will present
programs on Saturday, June 25, only. That evening
his featured program will be "Arkansas, Wild and
Free." Carson, horticulturist with the University of
Arkansas Extension Service, will present gardening
programs, in addition to her radio show, throughout
the weekend.
Kids can enjoy a quiz game, "Who Wants to be a
Bugologist?" based on the "Who Wants to be a
Millionaire" television show. The Fayetteville-based
band, Toucan Jam, will perform a nature-related
musical concert at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 25.
Performing that evening will be the Fayetteville duo
"Still on the Hill," which will debut a new song
about one of the mountain's former residents, the
"hermit" Chalmers Ferguson.
The popular "Bug Bonanza" will be at the park
pavilion. Professional entomologists and state park
interpreters will assist visitors with live and
mounted insects, displays, butterfly craft programs
and bug bingo. The Master Gardeners Live Butterfly
Conservatory, featuring native butterflies, will be
located close to the pavilion.
Visitors will also be able to enjoy four different
food vendors, door prizes, and a "Bug Jar Raffle."
All activities are free. An arts and crafts show
will be held simultaneously at the bottom of the
mountain in Paris.
Mount Magazine State Park is located 19 miles south
of Paris, and 10 miles north of Havana on Ark. 309.
For a detailed schedule of events, contact the park
at (479) 963-8502 or visit the Web site,
www.butterflyfestival.com.
While on the mountain, visitors can see the progress
of the construction of a new 90,000-square-foot
lodge at the park. The groundbreaking took place
April 9, 2004. Plans call for sixty guest rooms, a
restaurant and a conference center as well as
enticing amenities such as an indoor swimming pool,
exercise room, and gift shop. Its view will be of
the unfolding patchwork of farm fields and Blue
Mountain Lake below. To preserve the existing rock
wall that was a landscape feature of the front lawn
of the old lodge, which burned in 1971, the new,
larger lodge will be spread out along the south
bluff. Thirteen cabins are also currently under
construction to the east and west of the lodge.
Mt. Magazine is the state's highest peak at 2,753
feet above mean sea level. While major projects are
in the works for the state park, less than one
percent of the mountaintop will be re-developed.
Most of the development replaces historical elements
to recapture the glory of the mountain's tourism
days. |
