2nd Annual Monarch & Pollinator Festival
Saturday, September 28  ☼  10am - 3pm
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

Join butterfly, bird, and nature enthusiasts for a day of activities at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Learn about butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, flies, hummingbirds, and a host of other wildlife that help pollinate the many species of wildflowers, food crops, and other plants that sustain life on planet Earth at the 2nd Annual Monarch and Pollinator Festival at Jamaica Bay.  Bring your binoculars (or borrow ours) and lots of curiosity!  Free* and open to the public.

9:45am                      Welcome and Registration at the Refuge Visitor Center (Cross Bay Blvd just north of Broad Channel, NY)

10:00 - 10:15                        National Park Service Introduction

10:15 - 10:45                        “Butterflies, Moths and Other Jamaica Bay Pollinators" with Don Riepe

10:45 - 11:30                        “Life History of the Black Swallowtail” with Dr.John Potente

11:30 - 12:30                        Walks around the Visitor Center Gardens to Look for Pollinators (in guided groups)

12:30 - 1:15              Bring-Your-Own Bag Lunch and "Marvelous Metamorphoses" performance by Sova Dance and Puppet Theater

1:15                            Bus to nearby Fort Tilden to observe Monarch Migration (near to Beach 193 Street parking lot)

3:00pm                      Bus returns to the Refuge Visitor Center

*Donations appreciated to help offset costs. This event is a collaboration among NYC Audubon, Gateway National Recreation Area, American Littoral Society—Jamaica Bay Guardian, and Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy. Special thanks to Hornblower, Camp Rockaway, Tatiana Kaletsch and Ferriday Trust.

Directions:  Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center is located along Cross Bay Blvd in southern Queens approximately 2¼ miles south of Howard Beach and ¼ mile north of Broad Channel. Q52 and Q53 buses stop on Cross Bay Blvd at the Visitor Center parking entrance traffic signal. The flat 10-minute walk to the Visitor Center from the subway A train stop at Broad Channel is approximately ¾ mile; limited free shuttle service at program start and end. Hornblower will provide a shuttle bus for this event from its NYC Ferry Rockaway landing at Beach 108th Street to/from the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, meeting the arriving boat at 9:24am; The ferry shuttle bus will collect returning passengers at 2:45pm at Fort Tilden to return to the Rockaway ferry dock for riders to take NYC Ferry back to Sunset Park and Wall Street (www.ferry.nyc for ferry info and www.ferry.nyc/routes-and-schedules/route/rockaway/ for schedules).