This past October, the Pearl hosted the second annual Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival called ‘Butterflies without Borders.’ A few thousand San Antonians gathered at Pearl Park to witness several hundred butterflies as they were released from a custom-made Mariposa Pyramid. The mission of the festival is to raise awareness and appreciation of the insect pollinators that make one of every three bites of the food we eat possible. (Monarch Butterfly Festival, 2018)

Pearl has historically remained one of many pit stops for Monarch butterflies on their migration path and visitors will often see them when at the campus. The Pearl is excited to lend a hand in helping the butterflies on their journey to landing safely in Mexico.

Recent updates indicate that five monarch butterflies tagged at the San Antonio property in October during the 2017 Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival have made it to Mexico safe and sound, marking a successful migration.  According to Texas Butterfly Ranch, these five tags that occurred at Pearl constitute 0.54% of the total 928 tags recovered and reported back to Monarch Watch–an exceptional number, given that an estimated 80,000 butterflies in total were tagged this season.