July 2014

Ten groups, including HOI Sierra Club, set up table displays in the Peoria Riverfront Musuem lobby during "Monarch Butterflies and Other Pollinators Day" on May 24.

The Peoria Riverfront Museum and the Heart of Illinois Sierra Club hosted “Monarch Butterflies and other Pollinators Day” May 24th at the Riverfront Museum, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. There were ten groups with table displays, including HOI Sierra Club, offering up close looks at honeybee keeping, moths, monarchs and other butterflies, insects, hummingbirds and native bees.

The Forest Park Nature Center offered a free drop-in science class at the museum all day. Fifty-eight kids stopped by the classroom to learn about insects and pollination, and use a microscope to identify macroinvertebrates obtained from local streams.

The event was well attended and it certainly helped that it coincided with the opening day of the museum's "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" exhibit. We are hoping it will be possible to have the event again next year.

HOI Sierra Club member Bob Jorgensen helps a young girl look through a microscope in the drop-in science class.