Butterflies Set to Flutter Thursday at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens

Eagle County third-graders to release thousands of butterflies at Vail's Ford Park

VAIL, Colo., May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of Painted Ladies will take flight soon at America's highest botanical garden.

More than 400 Eagle County third-graders are expected to participate in the annual Butterfly Launch at noon on Thursday at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, in Vail's Ford Park, sponsored by The Hernreich Family Foundation.

"The Butterfly Launch is one of the most festive celebrations we offer at the Gardens. It is great fun for the children to witness Mother Nature work her wonders in transforming a caterpillar into a butterfly," says Ann Kurronen, the Gardens' executive director. "This is a joyous event and a wonderful learning opportunity for our local third-graders."

The students, from both public and private schools throughout Eagle County, were supplied this spring with kits including a viewing net, two caterpillars and food. Over the course of about a month, they've raised the caterpillars, watching as each pupated and turned into a Painted Lady Butterfly ready to take flight.

The students gather at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens at 11:30 Thursday for lunch, then release the butterflies together. And it's all set to music by renowned local musician Helmut Fricker performing his popular Austrian alpenhorn and squeezebox act.

The Hernreich Family Foundation, founded by Robert Hernreich in 1994, is a philanthropic 501(C) 3 non-profit organization based in the Vail Valley. As one of the Vail Valley's largest independent charitable organizations, the foundation supports primarily local, but also national and global charitable causes. Beneficiaries are chosen by the Hernreich Family members based on organization's family values, charitable preference and long-term relationships.

Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, at 8,250 feet above sea level in Vail's Ford Park, is the highest botanical garden in the United States, and perhaps the world, providing free access to an estimated 100,000 visitors annually. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization for which operations and programs are funded entirely through the generosity of donors, its mission is to inspire passion for plants in high-altitude communities through beautification, conservation, education and research programs.

Recognized as the foremost authority on high-altitude plants in natural and cultivated landscapes in the Rocky Mountains, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens not only contributes staff and expertise essential to conservation efforts throughout the region, it also provides an environment for rare, exotic and imperiled alpine wildflowers and plants. It also plays an important role in encouraging summertime flower displays throughout the Vail Valley at both private homes and businesses.

For the complete events schedule or more information about the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, call 970-476-0103 or visit http://www.bettyfordalpinegardens.org/.

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Source: Betty Ford Alpine Gardens

CONTACT: Stephen Lloyd Wood, media liaison of Betty Ford Alpine Gardens,
+1-970-949-9774, press@bettyfordalpinegardens.org

Web site: http://www.bettyfordalpinegardens.org/

2008-05-12 19:19:51 0359455 PRNEWSWIRE