HUNTINGTON BEACH : New Butterfly Park Takes Wing, True to Namesake’s Motto

Former Mayor Norma Brandel Gibbs’ motto is “You can fly, but that cocoon has to go.”

It seems fitting, then, that on Saturday--her 70th birthday--the city will dedicate to her its new “butterfly park” with groves of eucalyptus trees intended to provide shelter for endangered monarch butterflies.

The dedication will feature the unveiling of a colorful, 35-foot-wide mosaic depicting the distinctive orange and black butterflies in flight.

Gibbs, a retired university professor and the city’s first female mayor and council member, said she has lived by the motto and has tried to instill it in her students.

“What it’s saying is don’t shortchange yourself. You can do a lot of things if you try. Some people are afraid to fail, but through failure you succeed,” Gibbs said.

Jim Engle, the city’s deputy director of community services, said the city’s hope is that the park will attract more of the large, colorful monarchs that migrate to Southern California in November for a four-month stay.

The area around the park once had more than 500 eucalyptus trees, which are a monarch habitat. But many trees were wiped out by disease, Engle said, and others were destroyed years ago by vandals. The new, five-acre park encompasses the last significant stand that remains.

Ahead of this weekend’s opening of Norma Brandel Gibbs Park, Engle said, the city planted about 300 trees and installed an irrigation system, using about $300,000 in state grants to pay for the work.

The park has been left largely undeveloped, Engle said. The only plans are for picnic areas and a playground.

Gibbs, who served on the City Council from 1970 to 1978, said she is thrilled to have such a park named in her honor.

“It’s been part of my legacy to support the creation of parks, recreation facilities and libraries--they were the main things I pushed when I was on the council,” she said.

Gibbs was instrumental in the development of Huntington Central Park, Huntington Central Library and the building of a new City Hall on Main Street. She also founded Interval House, which operates shelters for women who are victims of domestic violence.

Concerned with the environment, Gibbs has fought for the preservation of the Bolsa Chica wetlands and the protection of beaches as well as for public coastal access.

Gibbs said she is pleased that the city decided to “preserve the naturalness” of the new park. “That’s what I consider as important,” she said. “It’s an oasis. It’s where you can go and enjoy quietness, to reflect and not be bombarded with anything that’s urban.”

The park, on the west side of Graham Street between Warner and Heil avenues and across from Meadowlark Golf Course, will be dedicated at 10 a.m. A Dixieland band will provide entertainment, and refreshments will be served.