As her daughter Maddie Johnson and niece Brielle McLean flitted about in their butterfly wings, Stacie Adair reflected on the meaning behind the butterflies.
The family was one of dozens gathered at the Alberni Valley Hospice Society's building on 10th Avenue for the annual "Butterfly Effect" release event, June 21, 2025. While the event is a fundraiser for the hospice society, it is also a moment of remembrance for families like Adair's. She lost her mother a year ago after being in Ty Watson House Hospice for a short while.
"The hospice society was phenomenal with her," said Adair. "We're making this an annual thing we do for my Mom."
The hospice society ordered 220 butterflies, the same number as last year, said Blair Knoedler. Some families paid for more than butterfly, in honour of several family members who have passed.
One family took their boxes to release in a special butterfly garden they cultivated with butterfly-friendly flowers for this occasion.
Nancy Wilmot, who chairs the Alberni Valley Hospice Society board, choked up when she talked about the butterfly release. "These butterflies are going to see the sky for the very first time," she said.
As she counted down, people gathered at the event opened their boxes and waited for the butterflies to depart. Some of them took a while to warm up from their dormant stage, and some flew around only to alight on a nearby patch of grass. There were signs posted on the lawn beside the hospice society building for people to watch where they were walking.
