Denville Township will mark Monarch Month with a morning program at Denville Park Meadow on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.
The event opens at 9 a.m. with the unveiling of new pollinator garden signs and a Monarch Month proclamation. A free milkweed giveaway runs from 9 to 11 a.m. at the same site, 20 Riverside Drive, with plants handed out first come, first served. The morning is weather permitting, and residents with questions can email denvillegreen@gmail.com.
Milkweed is the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat, which is why habitat work aimed at the species starts there. Mid October also falls in the stretch when monarchs move through New Jersey on their migration south.
The meadow itself has an unusual backstory for a Denville park. The township assembled it from eleven former residential properties along Riverside Drive, acquired with Federal Emergency Management Agency hazard mitigation funding routed through the state, along with Morris County open space trust money and New Jersey Green Acres funding. A condition of that funding was that the land stay open space, and the Municipal Council formally named the site Denville Park Meadow and dedicated it as a public park and rain garden.
The celebration is organized by the Denville Environmental Commission with support from the PSEG Foundation. Denville is a Sustainable Jersey certified municipality.
It is the second Denville environmental event in barely a month, following the Denville Green Fair that ran at the farmers’ market on Sept. 13.
Photo credit: Township of Denville
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