We are proceeding as planned with the Fourth Annual Butterfly Day at DeKorte Park this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  And it’s free

The highly popular, family-friendly event includes butterfly walks and talks, a scavenger hunt and butterfly costume contest for kids, and information tables.

The Butterfly Day schedule includes frequent butterfly walks and an hourly slide show and talk on the butterflies of DeKorte Park. A native plant walk is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. There are also Day-long scavenger hunts tailored for children.  Bring your own lunch and beverage.

This year the Commission has added a Butterfly Costume contest, inspired by the many children who have attended past events dressed in butterfly regalia.

The costume contest is at 1 p.m. and is for ages 12 and under, with prizes awarded to the top three winners. In addition, there will be several raffle drawings for great prizes including tickets to NJMC Pontoon Boat Cruises on the Hackensack River.

Butterflies commonly seen in DeKorte Park at this time of year include Black Swallowtails, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and Pearl Crescents.

The centerpiece of Butterfly Day is Jill’s Garden. Located just outside the Meadowlands Environment Center, the garden features cone flowers, butterfly bushes and butterfly weed to attract butterflies.

Jill’s Garden was built to honor the memory of Rutherford native Jill Ann Ziemkiewicz, the youngest member of the flight crew assigned to TWA flight 800, which fell into the ocean off Long Island on July 17, 1996.