Butterflies, Birds, Bees, Bats & Blooms - A Pollinator & Garden Faire - June 18, 2022
From 9am to 3pm on Saturday, June 18, Friends of Fort Halifax Park, Inc. was thrilled to host a wonderful group of local and not-so-local individuals and organizations with expertice in native pollinator, wildlife, and plant habitats in our Central PA area. Visitors enjoyed six speaker presentations covering topics such as the importance of Monarch Butterflies, Healthy Bird Communities, Bees of PA, Bats of PA, Native Habitats, and Fungi in our environments. Many visitors came away with a new appreciation for how a healthy environment, for healthy native species should work, and what we all need to do to make a difference in our own yards and communities. A list of the presenters, organizations, and the items that were graciously donated for raffles can be found below. We would like to thank everyone for their support in helping to make this a successful event! We will see everyone back next year for the 3rd Annual Butterfilies, Birds, Bees, Bats, and Blooms - A Pollinator and Garden Faire. Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 17, 2023!
- FoFHP would like to thank the following for their generous raffle donations!
- Doug Tallamy - 2 books/2 raffles, "Nature's Best Hope" and The Nature of Oaks"
- Wheel of Light Studio, LLC - $25.00 Gift Card
- Stauffer's Greenhouse, Elizabethville - 4 plants
- Smucker Gardens - $25.00 Gift Card
- Fern & Petal - 3 plants
- Anonymous - 2 books/2 raffles - "Bicycling with Butterflies" by Sara Dykman
- Vicki - 2 Adventure Quick Guides/2 raffles - "Common Native Bees of the Eastern United States"
- Annie and Vicki - Children's Netted Critter Case, 2 Sunflower Planter Pails, First Time Gardener 2 Book bundle
- Usztics Flower Shop & Home Accessories - Personal Care Tin with many assorted items!
- Scott Theurer - Landscape Design Consultation - includes Preliminary On-Site Consult, Scale Drawn Design, On-Site Final Design Consult
Thank you to the following individuals and organizations!
- Alan Corson, Speaker - Local Monarch Butterfly expert
- Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art - Emily Rosmus, Education Director
- Dauphin County Master Gardeners - Catherine Scott, Coordinator
- On Wings of Glory - Deb Straub
- Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania - Bill Strauss, Dauphin County Coordinator and Jay Smullen
- Halifax Area Garden Club - Kendra Rudisill and Deb Frantz
- DCNR - Ecologist Nathan Reagle, Speaker on Pollinator Habitat
- Deep Hollow Forest Farm - Brian Scott, Speaker on how mushrooms and fungi help our environment
- PA Game Commission - Wildlife Technician Levi Johnson (speaker) and Warden Zach Soles - The bats of PA
- Perennial Gardens Nursery - Steve Kidd will have PA Native plants for you to purchase
- PA Bat Rescue - Sharon Agresta-Siekerman
- Appalachian Audubon Society President - Ali Bowling, Speaker about Bird Friendly Communities
- PA Bee Monitoring Program, Coordinator, and Postdoctoral Researcher PSU Dept. of Entomology - Nash Turley, Speaker on Native Bees
- Wild Ones South Central PA Chapter - Jane Allis
- There will be children's activities, raffles, a 50/50 and food available by Ellie Mae Concessions!
2021 - Butterflies, Birds, Bees, & Blooms Collection Day - Foster a Monarch!
Participants from our 2021 workshop (see below) also had opportunity to sign up for our Foster a Monarch! - Egg and Caterpillar Collection Day. On August 14, 2021 many gathered on the eastern side of the park to collect Monarch eggs and caterpillars, take them home, foster them, record results, and when the Monarchs emerged from their Chrysalis, release them. 4B's Workshop presenter Alan Corson and others were available to assist and instruct on how to collect the milkweed, caterpillars, and eggs. This event was also successful with over 100 Monarch released in this first fostering year!
Butterflies, Birds, Bees, & Blooms - A Pollinator Workshop
Highlights from our June 19, 2021 Event!
The first Annual Butterflies, Birds, Bees & Blooms (4B's) - A Pollinator Workshop was hosted by Friends of Fort Halifax Park, Inc. on June 19, 2021. This workshop highlighted the struggling Monarch butterfly population by offering information that was helpful to the home gardener, giving information about the tools needed to establish Monarch and pollinator friendly gardens with PA Native plants. The guest speaker was local Monarch expert Alan Corson. Workshop guests also learned from other local experts about birds, bees, and other pollinators, and the PA native plants you need to attract them to round out a healthy back yard and community. Aqua Niche was on hand to answer questions and to help visitors purchase the PA Native plants needed to get started.
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