Dee's Bee and Butterfly Festival nets record turn out
The public swarmed to the Dickinson County Nature Center on Friday afternoon during the annual Dee's Bee and Butterfly Festival. Officials said 1,758 people attended this year's celebration — a record year, according to Dickinson County Conservation Board Executive Director Lee Sorenson. The yearly event highlights the important role pollinators such as bees and butterflies play in the food chain and their environment. Visitors were able to once again take the opportunity to released tagged monarch butterflies on site — each insect's unique serial number can be tracked as the monarchs make their way south toward Mexico during their seasonal migration. Attendees at Friday's festival also had the chance to learn how honey is extracted from hives during a demonstration by Boernsen Bees. Crafts, face painting and other activities were available inside the Maser Monarch Lodge, and families gathered around the nature center's outdoor amphitheater to take in a performance by kinetic entertainer Laura Ernst. The performer was featured on the fifth season of America's Got Talent, and she dazzled onlookers with her juggling, gymnastics and her acrobatic stunts on her aerial fabric. (Photos by Seth Boyes)