Tuesday, April 23, 2013

MOSI Outside Earth Day Event Wrap-Up

This past weekend, MOSI Outside celebrated Earth Day with a 2-day event full of activities. Here are some of the highlights:

Volunteer Extraordinaire Melanie Long gave guests an up-close experience with caterpillars from our lab, including Monarchs, Buckeyes, and Great Southern Whites. She also had chrysalis from several species to show off, and some lucky guests were around at the right time to watch brand-new butterflies emerging! Melanie is here most Sunday mornings in the Flight Encounter, so if you missed your chance to meet her and the caterpillars this past weekend, be sure to stop by in the future.


Kid's activities in the BioWorks Classroom included lots of pictures to color, coffee filter butterflies to make and take home, and bird feeders made from toilet paper tubes. Inside the museum, kids could have their faces painted, or make a simple bird house in Idea Zone.


Artist Terry Klaaren set up his easel in the Tree Grove on Sunday and painted one of our favorite trees - the Dick Bowers Live Oak. He always had time to talk to folks with questions, and gave plenty of kids inspiring advice about becoming artists themselves. He left us at the end of the day with a beautiful painting and smiles on our faces from his endless jokes.


Plenty of organizations and vendors were on hand in the Grand Lobby sharing advice with guests, including Recycle Tampa Bay, Temple Terrace Community Gardens, and Publix. Wilcox Nursery from Largo, FL was here on Sunday selling great native butterfly plants, including some hard-to-find native milkweed. We also had two terrific guest speakers, talking about Hugelkulture and Edible School Gardens. (More on them in upcoming posts.)


Out here in the Flight Encounter, butterflies were the stars of the show! Guests loved seeing our Zebra Longwings, Julia Longwings, Giant Swallowtails, Monarchs, Sulphurs, Duskywings, and more. We released new butterflies several times a day, and made sure guests had answers to their questions and brochures to take home so they can get their own butterflies gardens started.


All in all, it was a great weekend, and we're hoping to make it an annual event that gets bigger and better each year. You can see many more photos on our Facebook page by clicking here. Did you visit MOSI Outside this weekend? Share your own photos on our Facebook or Flickr page!

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