The Mountain Monarch Festival will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 3, at Gorges State Park in Sapphire. This free event, hosted by the park and sponsored by Friends of Gorges State Park and other partners, will celebrate the monarch butterfly during its migration and bring attention to the species’ declining numbers. The park lies along the monarchs’ migratory route. The butterflies can be seen in early October each year flying over the park, heading south to the high-elevation fir forests in central-southern Mexico’s Volcanic Belt, where they overwinter until early spring.
