#dadecitylife

[naturecoaster]

Dade City Ribbon Cutting Opens the Door for the Return of the Monarch Butterfly Festival

The City of Dade City hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated Touchton Park on Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 11 am. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was originally planned for the day before, but Mother Nature interrupted with an intense storm at the time planned. Dade City Ribbon Cutting Opens the Door for the Return of the Monarch Butterfly Festival October 26, 2024 We hope to see the Butterfly Lady at the 2024 Dade City Monarch Butterfly Festival in the newly renovated Touchton Park. Miles the Butterfly, photo ops, education, native butterfly plants and much more will be at the annual Dade City Monarch Butterfly Festival on October 26. Image by Dennis Bedard. Previously known to Dade City residents as Polly Touchton Park and located across 5th Street from the Dade City Garden Club, Touchton Park has undergone a dramatic renovation as a gift from one of “MissPolly” Touchton’s grandsons, who have also honored his grandfather and his parents with therenovation. The public is invited to attend. J. Thomas Touchton, who lives in Tampa but grew up in Dade City, credits the examples set by his parents and grandparents for his own community involvement during his lifetime and has expressed great appreciation to the community of Dade City for its positive influence in his life. This prompted him to create a vision for renovating the Ruth Embry “Miss Polly” Touchton Park—both to honor his family and to offer a “thank you” to the people of Dade City. Consequently, he has worked with The City of Dade City for over two years to make this vision areality and Thursday morning it was dedicated to the public. Touchton Park during its renovations. Image Courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/DadeCityLife The renovation includes the planting of more trees and shrubs, the leveling of some of the east side of the Park along 5th Street to create two levels, the addition of irrigation and underground utilities, and the addition of sidewalks, swings, and new picnic tables. A retaining wall was added within the Park to balance the new “upper” and “lower” levels. The City also installed new underground stormwater drainage along Southview Avenue and 5th Street and participated in the creation of new parking spaces on those streets. Attracting Monarch Butterflies with Special Plants Monarch butterflies on native plants. The crowing feature of special interest to the Dade City Garden Club is the planting of a significant number of flowering plants and shrubs specifically chosen to attract Monarch butterflies and other pollinators. Strategically located at the southern gateway to Historic Downtown Dade City, the Park provides an enhanced greenspace that promotes the City’s image and sustains the environment with much-needed open space. Former Mayor Camille Hernandez and a crew of celebrants erect the Monarch City USA sign in Dade City, 2019. Image courtesy of the City of Dade City. Dade City is a Monarch City USA As a Monarch City USA, The City partners with the Dade City Garden Club to host the Monarch Butterfly Festival on the fourth weekend in October. The re-opening of Touchton Park allows this year’s event to be held on Saturday, October 26, 2024 and will be the same popular family event held in the past with a new look and an expanded focus on more education and public awareness. NatureCoaster.com has been a media sponsor of, and speaker at this wonderful event. The garden club and the whole community are grateful to Mr. Touchton and The City for their ongoing support and enjoyed meeting the public at the rescheduled Ribbon Cutting on April 4, 2024, at 11 am. Dade City Garden Club looks forward to meeting more Monarch enthusiasts at the Festival in October. We will see you there! For more information, contact Joan Hepscher, Chair of the Dade City Monarch Butterfly Festival,at JoanHep@gmail.com. Read the full article