ASHLEY TERRY
A new event will officially take flight at The FeedLot from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 17, when the inaugural Art & Butterfly Festival opens.
Happening alongside the Farmers Market, art and nature will come together at 225 Church St. for a fun, family-friendly morning, complete with local art, live music, nature journaling, butterfly experiences, shopping and much more.
Amanda Scott, special events and activities coordinator, told The Azle News she came up with the idea for this event to celebrate the FeedLot’s new pollinator garden.
“I was really trying to think, ‘OK, what else can we do at The FeedLot that doesn’t lock us into food trucks and events?’” Scott said. “Something that the community can come out, use and enjoy without there really being an event here.”
After brainstorming with city staffers David Hawkins, director of planning and development, and Kristen Pegues, community and marketing specialist, the trio decided to apply for the Anice Read Fund — a small grant program that provides funding for downtown projects.
“She (Read) was a very instrumental part of the Texas Downtown Association,” Pegues told The Azle News. “This is kind of a memorial fund for her … You can apply for it in different increments of money, but it has to be something downtown and revitalization related, so we kind of combined the fact that the grant was available at the same time that Amanda had this idea for a garden.”
Pegues explained that part of the application process involved speaking to the executive director of the Texas Downtown Association. After explaining their idea for a pollinator garden — and the fact that it would be placed right next to The FeedLot’s Lettuce Shack — Pegues said the trio had a feeling they would be awarded the grant — and they were.
“We found out in November that we were awarded $5,000,” Pegues said. “The cool thing about this grant is this is actually one of not very many that is 100% reimbursable … so we put it (the pollinator garden) in, and they reimburse us 100% for the $5,000.”
Pegues said they didn’t even have to spend the $5,000 on mulch or compost because Community Waste Disposal took care of that.
“We’re really thankful for that partnership,” she said.
Crews from the city’s streets and parks departments also used heavy equipment to help move the dirt — but it was Scott and Pegues who planted every plant in the garden themselves.
“We started it in March, and we probably finished it up in April,” Pegues said. “Amanda, this is kind of her hobby, and she knows a lot about plants, so she was able to kind of handpick everything, and she designed the thing herself … This was her vision and we just helped bring it to life.”
“It was a labor of love,” Scott said, with a chuckle.
The pollinator garden includes plants such as vitex, pentas, zinnias, Turk’s cap, gaura, pink muhly grass, milkweed and Gregg’s mistflower — the latter two being especially important for attracting butterflies.
“The pink muhly grass, that will not only add beauty when things are really kind of starting to fade from the seasons, but it really helps just provide a habitat for bugs and critters to live in the grass,” Scott said. “It’s all deer resistant, too.”
Although Scott joked that the trio picked a terrible season to plant the pollinator garden because of the severe Texas summer drought, she said it has already been successful and seems to be “doing its job.”
“With the heat dome that’s on top of Texas and some of the rest of the country, it’s really stopped the butterflies from moving south,” Scott said. “But we have seen lots of monarchs, bees, bumblebees — lots of really beneficial insects … It’s a little ecosystem already.”
TAKING FLIGHT
To celebrate the pollinator garden’s arrival and success, the upcoming Art & Butterfly Festival will give community members a chance to experience the new addition firsthand.
“Mid-October is prime time for the butterfly migration and is a wonderful time to celebrate our pollinator patch,” Scott said.
The event will feature a performance from the Azle Music & Enrichment Academy and an activity with what Scott calls “sticky sticks,” which are sticks coated in something sweet, like honey, to entice butterflies to land.
“I hate to admit it, but I got this idea from the butterfly festival in Granbury,” Scott said. “They actually tag their butterflies, so if they land in different places, they're traceable. We're not going to tag our butterflies; we're just going to provide some nutrients so they can head on down south.”
The festival will also have a few food trucks and opportunities for community members to create art of their own.
“Legacy Oaks of Azle, they have donated easels that we’re going to have in the garden, so we’re going to give the community an opportunity to come sketch or paint,” Scott said. “We’ll have several different mediums there for them to use and just get a taste of what nature journaling is all about.”
While this is only the first event of its kind, Scott said she intends to gather feedback from the artists who are coming and see about making the Art & Butterfly Festival an annual event in Azle.
“We plan to expand and hopefully next year, we’re going to be able to do a two-day festival,” Scott said. “Come see what it’s all about. Hopefully we’ll be able to grow the garden.”
