Transylvania County lies along the monarch's migratory route, and the butterflies can be seen at the Gorges State Park during the autumn season, flying on their way south to the high-elevation fir forests in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, where they overwinter until early spring.
The Art Department is partnering with Gorges State park in a collaboration with the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island to create a "Symbolic Migration" activity where students from Transylvania County will be creating small paper monarch butterfly artwork and will be sending them on a "migration" to the other side of our state. In return, students from the coastal side of NC will be working with the NC Aquarium to send us some symbolic butterflies to be displayed at our park festival on September 28th.
The goal for this activity is to, one, bring awareness of the Monarch Butterfly Migration that is taking place in our student's back yards; and two, simply encourage students to celebrate these beautiful creatures and to use their artwork to spread awareness of conservation efforts.
