Celebrate 20 Years Of Butterflies At Chattahoochee Nature Center

ROSWELL, Ga. — Have you seen butterflies sleep? They hang upside down under leaves and branches during the night. When the temperature warms up, they unfold their wings and start fluttering.

Experience the flying of butterflies for all of June and July at the Chattahoochee Nature Center.
The season takes flight June 1 and 2 at the 20th annual Flying Colors Butterfly Festival. This North Atlanta tradition invites visitors to get close and see the colorful pollinators as they fly around the center. Butterfly gardens, live butterfly releases, and plenty of family fun await visitors for the two-day festival.

The month also opens the crowd favorite Butterfly Encounter. This large, enclosed greenhouse features hundreds of butterflies flitting around the native plants they love to eat.

It's easy to get up close to the butterflies, and you even have a chance to feed them using a nectar stick. Each of the species in the encounter is native to Georgia, so you are sure to walk away more familiar with our local species and butterfly biology. Be sure to bring your camera; the Butterfly Encounter is an exhibit where memories are made, and photos that will become your personal keepsakes are taken.

The popular Monarch butterfly is just one of the colorful species you will find in the Butterfly Encounter. This butterfly is the only one known to migrate, each year flying from northern America down to Mexico. What you may not know is that it only likes to lay eggs on the milkweed plant. If there are no milkweed plants available, the butterfly will not lay its eggs, leading to population decline. Like other pollinators, such as bees, butterflies have an important role to play in our ecosystem. Learn all about pollinators and the plants they love when you visit.

The Butterfly Festival is June 1 and 2 and marks the opening of the Butterfly Encounter. Visit CNC’s website for ticketing information. The Butterfly Encounter outdoor exhibit is open to the general public daily June 3 until July 31, and is included with general admission to CNC and free to CNC members. For more information, visit www.chattnaturecenter.org.

Special Events

Flying Colors Butterfly Festival
Saturday, June 1, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
Sunday, June 2, Noon–5 p.m.
Celebrate 20 years of butterflies with us. Enjoy all things fluttery, like the kids’ butterfly costume parade, Butterfly Garden tours and plant sale, live butterfly encounters, crafts and face painting, butterfly school and releases, food trucks, live entertainment, and more.
$12 general public/$8 CNC members/free for children ages 2 and under.

Butterfly Encounter
Open daily, June 3–July 31
Get up close and personal with hundreds of native butterflies surrounded by colorful nectar plants. Included with general admission and free to CNC members.

Father’s Day Special, Sunday June 16 – Dads get in free

Butterfly Encounter Photography Workshop
Sunday, June 23, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Join Atlanta-based nature photographer Eric Bowles for a workshop to help you make better photographs of butterflies and other garden subjects. Ages 16+. $40 general public/$30 CNC members. Register by June 16.

Meditate with the Butterflies
Sunday, June 30, 10:30 a.m.– Noon
This quiet time will be set aside before CNC opens so you can experience the butterflies in a new way. Ages 16+. $30 general public/$15 CNC members. Register by June 24.

Join CNC during its weekly scheduled programs
Wildlife Feeding Time – Tuesdays and Saturdays at 4 p.m.
Trail Hike – Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m.
Animal Encounter – Sundays at 4 p.m.
Story Time by the River – Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. (through August 7)
Creature Feature – Thursdays and Fridays at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
The Chattahoochee: Re-Imagine Our River – Film Showings: Mondays–Fridays, 3 p.m.; Saturdays, 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.; Sundays, 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Cool Movies – Monday–Friday at 1 p.m.