Spring Butterflies

Meijer Gardens’ 28th Annual Butterfly Exhibition Provides Up-Close Experience with Thousands of Tropical Butterflies

GRAND RAPIDS/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park’s annual Fred & Dorothy Fichter Butterflies Are Blooming exhibition brings 7,500 tropical butterflies to visitors. The highly anticipated exhibition, taking place every March and April, is the largest temporary tropical butterfly exhibition in the nation.

This year’s exhibition highlights the microscopic detail and beauty of butterflies. Join us as we discover the intimate, wondrous world of butterflies. The magic is truly in the details!

Did you know that the newly hatched caterpillars of some butterfly species are only about 2 millimeters in length—smaller than a grain of rice? Did you know that a butterfly’s wings are covered in fragile, microscopic scales, overlapping like roof shingles—200 to 600 per square millimeter? Tune your senses to the tiny as you explore with curiosity and wonder.

Approximately 60 colorful butterfly and moth species journey from butterfly-rich regions of Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Philippines, and Kenya to fly freely in the five-story, 15,000-square-foot Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory. At 85 degrees and 70 percent humidity, this balmy environment mimics the tropical regions the butterflies call home.

Throughout, butterflies can be viewed drinking nectar from the flowering plants and feeding stations, flying freely within the towering tropical conservatory. The blue common morpho, whose iridescence impresses in flight, as well as brush foot varieties such as the clearwing, lacewing and zebra mosaic are expected to make appearances. Approximately 1,000 chrysalides are delivered to Meijer Gardens each week of the exhibition.

Guests can watch del- icate chrysalides and cocoons being placed in the Observation Station, where these unique and fascinating creatures transform and spread their wings for the first time. Gliders such as the emperor, ruby-spotted and orchard swallowtails will add to the diverse assortment.

•Extended Spring Break Hours: Open until 9 p.m. March 31 and April 3–7.

•Tuesday Night Lights - Included with admission

Bring a flashlight to search for butterflies for nightlife.

•March 12 - Zooming in on Butterflies in Bloom 2 p.m. Included with admission

•March 26 - A Closer Look at Metamorphosis (Lecture) 2 p.m. Included with admission

For tickets and more information, https://www.meijergardens.org/

A journey of love and life, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, JR tells the story of Ti Moune, a young girl with a big heart. A Calypso-flavored score weaves through this heart filled tale that tests the strength of love. A 60-minute, young-audience adaption of the Tony-nominated Broadway musical packed with catchy songs and non-stop dance. • From the award-winning creators of Ragtime and Seussical!

Come and see this live theater productions March 3-19, 2023 at the Stages Theatre Company in HOPKINS. The show is recommended for AGES 7 AND UP. Ticket prices are $17 - 24, children under 17 are $13. Purchase online at https://my.stagestheatre. org/island23/3897?z=0

Book by Lynn Ahrens

Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Music by Stephen Flaherty

Based on “My Love, My Love” by Rosa Guy

Directed/Choreographed by Kelli Foster Warder

Masks are welcome and encouraged but optional for all patrons attending ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, JR., EXCEPT for Saturday performances when masks will be required.

The whereabouts of Jesse James may have been mysterious in the latter part of the 1880s but scholars have successfully traced his movements from birth through his burials and exhumations. Across the country, from Texas to West Virginia, there are explorable sites and markers that refer to his domestic and his criminal lives.

He joined the Civil War guerrillas in 1864 and Post-Civil War he and his brother Frank formed an alliance with the four Younger Brothers and became the James-Younger Gang to continue the fight. James is estimated to have participated in approximately twenty armed robberies. www.visitmo.com

His legend began in Kearney, Missouri on September 5, 1847 on the 100-acre family farm. Originally a 2-room log cabin, the house was built circa 1822 by Jacob Groomer and purchased in the 1840s by Jesse’s father Robert S. James. He added a wooden building with 3-rooms in 1845. Robert, a Baptist minister, married Zerelda Cole and settled in the “Little Dixie” region of Missouri to become hemp farmers and owners of six slaves. Frank was the elder son. Robert died in 1850 of cholera.

Jesse James

Zerelda’s second husband, Benjamin Simms, also passed away and she married Dr. Reuben Samuel in 1855. On September 15, 1868 Perry Samuel was born. He was the son of the enslaved housekeeper in the James’ home and, historians believe, Dr. Samuel.

Perry is listed in the 1880 census records as a mulatto and a servant. He is included in family photographs, lived inside the farmhouse and not in a slave cabin or servant’s quarters and some family members referred to him as Uncle Perry. Upon Perry’s death his obituary lists him as an “aide” to the James Boys. He is interred in Fairview Cemetery in Liberty, MO.

Tours of The Jesse James Farm and Museum begin in the Visitor Center with a film and series of outstanding thematic displays that feature family artifacts, memorabilia, photographs and explanatory text on all aspects of Jesse’s life. Exhibited highlights are the boots he was wearing when he was killed, his saddle, Frank’s 1882 surrender letter to the governor and other personal items that comprise the largest collection of Jesse James objects in the world. One intriguing area is devoted to depictions of the outlaw in films. Movie aficionados will be thrilled to learn that “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” is the most accurate of all the autobiographical films. Jessejamesmuseum.org

A short walk from the museum is a complex of sites that includes the James birthplace, slave quarters, a smokehouse and Jesse’s original gravesite. The house can only be seen from the outside and by peering in the windows. Zerelda had Jesse buried in the yard of her home so that she could keep the grave from being vandalized. A steady stream of people would visit the grave and she would sell them a stone taken from it for $0.25. Each evening she would re-