May 17—MIDDLEBURY — The title was “Flower Power,” but animals, living and future, were the honored guests at this Friday event at Middlebury Public Library.

Kim Clarke, of Middlebury Then and Now, said that the event is now in its seventh year, part of the April through December events the group sponsors annually, which are meant to be “educational an entertaining.”

Starting at 4 p.m., kids and their parents got a chance to get butterflies off to a start.

“For this, we’ve got painted butterfly caterpillars,” Clarke said. “They’re putting them in a habitat (a plastic cup with a lid) and then they will make a chrysalis and hopefully hatch into a painted lady butterfly.”

The caterpillars used, which had a bit of larvae included in their habitat, were ordered from Clearwater Butterfly, in Florida, Clarke added.

Ethan Miller, Middlebury, was at the event with his wife Nikki, and their twins, Henry and Hazel, 2.

“It’s going good so far,” Miller said. “We just got here and we found out they were going to have bugs, so they got excited. Henry likes bugs.”

At 5 p.m., Mark Kohlhorst, of Auburn based “Mark’s Ark,” gave a live animal show, and Hay Huey had a food truck on hand.

To learn more, visit www.middleburythenandnow.org.

Steve Wilson is news editor for The Goshen News. You can reach him at steve.wilson@goshennews.com.