A butterfly release in Lima, Ohio, marked three decades of the Children's Garden, a project run by the Allen County Master Gardeners.
The event, held in celebration of the garden's 30th anniversary, offered families a series of stations about butterflies. Topics included migration patterns, the insect's life cycle and its role in the environment. According to WLIO, children who completed all the stations were given a monarch butterfly to release themselves.
Denise Woodruff of the Allen County Master Gardeners said the transformation from chrysalis to adult butterfly is beautiful to witness. She described the experience of children holding a butterfly to warm it, since the insects are kept slightly cooled, and then watching them move among flowers.
Woodruff also said the garden has been a passion project for the master gardeners across its three decades. She said children who visit on work days laugh, play and ask questions about the plants, which she called worthwhile and the reason the group continues its work.
The Children's Garden is located between the Allen County Museum and the Lima Public Library, WLIO reported.