Butterfly exhibit at Sonoma County Fair draws thousands daily

Visitors walked slowly through the “Butterfly Adventures” exhibit at the Sonoma County Fair, careful not to step on some of the Monarch or painted lady butterflies resting on the brown carpeted floor.

Some kids used Q-tips laced with blue Gatorade to lure the fatigued butterflies away from imminent danger, even as more energetic butterflies fluttered about and landed on kids' heads and arms.

With about 2,000 butterflies on display in a highly interactive exhibit, Butterfly Adventures is among the most popular attractions at the fairgrounds this year, drawing between 1,500 and 2,000 visitors daily.

“They come right up on you and you can use a Q-Tip for their feeding,” said Bonita Sweeney, 72, of Rohnert Park. “And they go wherever you go. They land on your shoes, your hair, your back. It's a wonderful experience.”

Sweeney's granddaughter, Gabby Sweeney, 10, said she learned that the butterflies eat with their “two front feet.”

Jeanine Hillman, 79, of Larkfield, who visited the exhibit with her friend, Norma Vickery Miller, 79, of Santa Rosa, called the attraction “the best exhibit” at the fairgrounds. “Everybody in there is smiling,” she said.

Some visitors may mistake these Monarch butterflies with those east of the Continental Divide, which migrate down into Mexico and Florida for the winter. The Monarchs here trace their roots to those west of the Rockies and winter in the southwestern states and California, said Peter Noah of Vancouver, owner of the exhibit.

Noah has the butterflies working in two alternating shifts, in what he referred to as a “butterfly union.” He has about 1,000 butterflies out in the exhibit while the other 1,000 rest in several pop-up butterfly cages. He swaps the butterflies the next day.

Noah said his goal is to educate people about the plight of the butterfly in a highly interactive and personal way.

The butterfly population in the West has been adversely affected by the human population as well as the expansion of agriculture, which has replaced giant swaths of milkweed and nectar plants.

He said he hopes people will be encouraged to plant a butterfly or nectar garden.

“You don't have to have grass in your front yard to attract butterflies,” he said.

Inside the exhibit, Erin O'Leary, 37, of Santa Rosa tried to calm her son Hunter every time a butterfly landed on him or fluttered too close.

“It's great for the kids to be this close with nature and to interact with butterflies they normally wouldn't be able to get so close to,” O'Leary said, just before she turned to Hunter and asked if he liked the flying critters.

“I like two,” the boy said, timidly.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at (707) 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.