Butterflies are free at Ulster fair
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. » The Butterfly Experience at the Ulster County Fair provides visitors a delightful interaction with nature.
About 190 Monarchs flutter about in an inflated tent, occasionally landing on people. Youngsters squeal with delight at seeing wings flap on their parents’ heads.
“This is my birthday and this is amazing,” said 5-year-old Alyssa Ellsworth of Saugerties.
Alyssa’s mother, Meredith, was busy trying to coax a Monarch butterfly onto a stick and said the experience in the tent was the most memorable part of the fair.
“We love the Monarchs, we support their migration, and we think this is great,” she said. “Alyssa’s a big animal fan, so we read all about them. We know that they travel to Mexico every year, they do an amazing trip these little guys. And when we saw this here, we had to stop in to see the butterflies.”
The Butterfly Experience is free to visit and open throughout the fair, which began Tuesday and runs through Sunday at the Ulster County Fairgrounds, 249 Libertyville Road, New Paltz.
“The whole family comes in and leaves with a big smile,” said Butterfly Experience owner Joseph Damiano.
“Everybody loves butterflies,” he said. “I started out with some poles and nets and it grew into this.”
Small sticks with a foam pad are provided to help visitors hold the butterflies, though parents are asked to assist children.
“We ask the parents to hold their kid’s hand and help them,” Damiano said. “But if we give them two sticks, the parents get mesmerized by the butterflies and they just turn their back on their kids. Then you’ve got [butterfly] causalities all over the place, so we try to limit that as much as possible because we’re here to protect butterflies.”
Damiano, who also brings the butterflies to schools and special events, said his visitors at the fair become engaged immediately and begin asking questions instead of just searching for information online
“The most common question we get is people asking what butterflies eat ... which is sugar water, although we feed them Gatorade,” he said.
“This is something that the kids are going to put down the phones for unless they’re taking pictures,” he said. “They’re not going to be playing video games in here.”
The Ulster County Fair runs through Sunday at the county fairgrounds, 249 Libertyville Road, New Paltz. Gates open at 10 a.m. daily. Admission is $17 per person. (Senior citizens get in for free from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday.) Parking is free for the duration of the fair. More info: ulstercountyfair.com.