West Hartford Children's Museum Commemorates Butterfly Exhibit

The West Hartford Children’s Museum held a reception Tuesday evening thanking donors for the “Butterflies: Winged-Wonders” exhibit.

Children’s Museum President and CEO Bob Griesmer said that the net-enclosed exhibit, which features 500 butterflies, represents an apt metaphor for the location’s overall transformation.

“Just as a caterpillar goes through a metamorphosis to a butterfly, the new Children’s Museum is going through a similar transformation from top to bottom,” Griesmer said.

Griesmer said that other exhibits, such as the Imagination Playground and Spineless Wonders, fit into an exciting plan for the future of the museum.

“We’re going to stay a boutique,” he said. “We’re going to focus on the parents, the children and the region.”

So far, the plan has worked.

“This is the biggest summer we’ve had,” Griesmer said.

The Butterflies: Winged Wonders, which opened on July 1, is a major reason why.

Griesmer thanked Monarch Jewelers, the Vernon D. and Florence E. Roosa Foundation, Jeff Hodges Landscapers, Flower Power Farm, Comcast, Clear Channel Communications and West Hartford Media for their support in making the exhibit a reality.

“Thank you to the sponsors for making Butterflies: Winged-Wonders a reality,” Griesmer said.

Getting the exhibit together was quite an adventure, from having the independent structure built to getting the butterflies ($5 apiece) shipped in a dormant state in envelopes to West Hartford.

Griesmer used the occasion to also announce that the Children’s Museum has renewed its lease through June 30, 2017.