{"id":248482,"date":"2026-04-27T17:21:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248482\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:21:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:21:06","slug":"wings-take-flight-butterflies-at-the-green-thumb-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248482\/","title":{"rendered":"Wings take flight: butterflies at the Green Thumb Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Political pollster and consultant Barry Edwards has always had an appreciation for nature. Especially butterflies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In fact, he has operated a tent at the Green Thumb Festival, at the St. Petersburg-based Walter Fuller Park, for more than 25 years. Edwards brought 400 butterflies to the event Saturday and Sunday (April 25 and 26).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to be an environmentalist, you really need to learn how the whole system works,\u201d he said. \u201cButterflies are kind of the apex. If you use poisons and pesticides, there\u2019s no butterflies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This idea ultimately led Edwards to open a booth at the annual gathering. It became a family affair. Edwards\u2019s parents and sisters began to attend and help. Even neighbors have lent a hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Edwards, it\u2019s all about impacting local families. Particularly, children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every year, he places a variety of host plants inside the tent for the butterflies to lay eggs on. Milkweeds are among the most common. Edwards provides extra plants to the young guests at the festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He explained that planting can teach youth responsibility, empowerment and accountability. For the plants to thrive, they need to be watered frequently. Healthy vegetation can attract butterflies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Edwards\u2019 butterflies include monarchs, painted ladies, swallowtails and zebra longwings.<\/p>\n

Parents, who once attended the festival as children themselves, are now bringing their sons and daughters to see the butterflies. This especially makes Edwards smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gardening, he believes, can not only help individuals feel more connected to nature. It can provide a sense of relaxation and peace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can make their own yards into parks if they plant,\u201d Edwards said. Greenery and butterflies \u201ccan calm you down.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of the Green Thumb Festival butterflies are grown in Florida. This year\u2019s group was from Bradenton. They include monarchs, painted ladies, swallowtails and zebra longwings. He explained that the creatures were initially placed in \u201clittle clear envelopes.\u201d Edwards released them into the tent Friday prior to the festival\u2019s opening. Following the event, he moved the insects to plants around the city so that they can reproduce. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Butterflies have short lifespans. They usually only live for a couple of weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parents may or may not be into gardening, but once the kids get excited, the parents have to get into gardening,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes environmentalists out people who never thought about being environmentalists.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This encourages individuals to think about their impact on the local ecosystem, Edwards added. It\u2019s not expensive to start butterfly gardening. All people have to do is purchase plants such as milkweeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a lot of butterflies, you have a good healthy environment,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have any butterflies, you\u2019re probably using too many chemicals and you need to be worried. It\u2019s not about them, it\u2019s about you. If we have all of these chemicals in the world and butterflies can\u2019t survive, it\u2019s probably not good for us either.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Political pollster and consultant Barry Edwards has always had an appreciation for nature. Especially butterflies.\u00a0 In fact, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-248482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}