May 2014
The Peoria Riverfront Museum and the Heart of Illinois Sierra Club are hosting "Monarch Butterflies and Other Pollinators Day" on Saturday, May 24, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Riverfront Museum. Admission is free.
The fascinating science and serious challenges facing monarch butterflies and other central Illinois pollinators will be given an up close and hands-on review. There will be much to see and do, something for everyone in the family.
The Forest Park Nature Center will offer a free drop in science class at the museum all day. There will be 10 groups with table displays offering up close looks at honeybee keeping, moths, monarchs and other butterflies, insects, hummingbirds and native bees. Tours of the native prairie plants that surround the Museum will be offered. A film room will show a variety of short 10–20 minute films about all kinds of pollinators. There will be plenty of opportunities for families to get more involved in their own home or at school.
Drop in anytime to the FPNC science class to work with microscopes, observing monarchs and their flower pollen. Children will be able to put on a pollinator costume and experience for themselves how pollination occurs. The science class will also feature identification of macroinvertebrates under the microscope obtained from local streams.
Peoria Academy of Science will offer over a hundred pinned specimens of pollinators. Harts Honey of Brimfield will have two tables filled with honey beekeeping equipment and a live enclosed bee box. They will have some of their products and literature describing Colony Disorder Syndrome with some possible solutions.
There will be tables from Wildlife Prairie Park, Friends of Rocky Glen and Peoria Wilds offering volunteer opportunities to get up close with nature. Hummingbird Haven of Smithfield will feature the marvelous features of hummingbirds. Seed Savers Exchange will offer heirloom seeds that are free of chemical coatings that can harm pollinators. The University of Illinois at Champaign Pollinarium will offer in depth information about our native bees. Monarch Watch and Xerces Society material will describe the crisis of the Monarch Migration and how to create a butterfly garden in your home that will help the monarchs and other pollinators. Hoerr Nursery will provide live local pollinator friendly plants and garden designs.
HOI Sierra Club will have several tables with information about state legislation to promote family farms and supporting local farmers markets. There will also be material about proposed Federal legislation to reduce pesticide use on farms.
You will certainly enjoy this event if you can come to the Riverfront Museum. For more information look on the Peoria Riverfront Museum website or contact Dave Pittman at dvdpttmn@aol.com or 309-573-2354.