The event will be taking place Thursday from noon-3:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Park.

The Bird Tree & Garden Club provides free programming throughout the Chautauqua season and advocates for the environment year-round. This year, the Monarchpalooza! is being funded by a grant from the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation. The grant is around $2,000 and will pay for the tent that will house the butterflies, as well as for the experts that will be coming to the event.

“Monarchpalooza! seeks to inform the public about the dramatic decline of the monarch butterfly population,” said Lynda Acker, a board member for the Bird Tree & Garden Club. “There has been a decline in pollinators in general in the last few years.”

The event will feature live specimens showing the entire life cycle of of the monarch butterfly. There will also be a giant screened tent filled with hundreds of adult monarch butterflies for guest to feed.

“Guests can fill out their Monarchpalooza! passpoort as they move from station to station,” Acker said. “They learn about the various aspects of the monarch butterfly. Once their passport is completely filled out, they can choose a nectar source and enter the amazing tent that has 200 butterflies.”

The club is collaborating with experts from various local groups, including the Roger Tory Petersen Institute, the Audobon Community Nature Center and Betsy Berguson, the director of Chautauqua Gardens and Landscapes.

There will also be many butterfly experts at the event, like Jack and Diane Voelker, who are local naturalists and monarch aficionados; Julie Holland, who will discuss and demonstrate tagging monarch butterflies prior to their migratory flight to Mexico; and local expert Adam Collwitzer. Both club members and friends of the club will be staffing the event.

The club’s Butterflies and Blooms program will also be represented, in which master gardners provide expert advice on how to create a “monarch waystation.”

“There will be a native plant expert giving free guidance for responsible garden design,”Acker said. “As well as a plants grower, selling nectar and host plants. There will also be a lemonade stand, a limited-number of dress-up butterfly wings for sale, coloring, crafts, face painting and temporary tattoos.”

The event itself is free and all are welcome to attend.

“We are hopeful that residents from throughout the community will attend this event,” Acker said.

Those wishing to attend this event will require an afternoon gate pass if they are coming from off the Chautauqua grounds.