Hundreds of elementary students from a nearby school released 400 butterflies in the butterfly garden at Surrey Centre Cemetery on Wednesday, June 18.
The 200 students helped raise the butterflies from eggs to chrysalises and then released them as adults. Students also learned about the environmental impact of butterflies before they released them.
"The butterflies will help pollinate the garden and provide food for birds, mammals, lizards and other wildlife. In return, those birds, mammals, and lizards help keep gardens free from pests," noted the City of Surrey in a release.
The emcee for the event, Godwin, a.k.a. "butterfly man," asked the students if they could name the four stages of the butterfly.
The students shouted their response: egg, larva (small caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult butterfly.
Hundreds of elementary students from a nearby school released 400 butterflies in the butterfly garden in Surrey Centre Cemetery on Wednesday, June 18. pic.twitter.com/yqdgWHu4TE
— Anna Burns (@AnnaBBurns) June 18, 2025
"The butterfly teaches us so much, and nature teaches us so much, because with everything in life, there's an opportunity to learn something from a blade of grass to a flower to a tree to a bird soaring, and the butterfly can teach us things like letting go of the past," Godwin said.
"The butterfly had to create itself and transform and metamorphose in that cocoon, and then fly away and just trust the process that its wings will work, and then it had to let go of the past. It had to let go of being a caterpillar."
"So sometimes these things teach us about letting go of the things of the past that no longer serve us, because we're meant to grow our wings and spread them and fly and be colourful and be bright and be beautiful, just like a butterfly."
The butterfly also teaches us to embrace change and to trust the future, Godwin said.
