PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. —

Monarch butterfly numbers in Pacific Grove have drastically decreased this season, causing concern among scientists and conservationists.

The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History reports low count numbers this year. They are not the only ones as it is a statewide issue

Monarch butterfly donations

This time of year, you are used to seeing a lot of monarch butterflies at the sanctuary

With this season's counts reporting drastically low numbers, scientists are worried about the butterfly, which is already on the candidate list for endangered species.

A quick walk through Pacific Grove reveals a lack of bright orange wings flying around.

"There's nobody here. So I am a little disappointed," a visitor said.

Monarch butterflies are back in Pacific Grove

The Western monarch butterfly count is so low in Pacific Grove and across California that it is raising concern among scientists.

"I jokingly tell kids last week, I checked the hospitals, I checked the vets and I checked the jails. There aren't any there. So they're not out there somewhere," Paul Meredith, a Monarch Grove Sanctuary docent said.

During the season's peak on November 22, the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum counted 228 monarchs.

Since then, the number has fluctuated around 100, a sharp contrast from 2021 through 2023, when numbers reached as high as 16,000.

Beloved monarch butterflies now listed as endangered

"Scientists aren't entirely sure if it is purely climate change or other factors," said Natalie Jonhston, a community science coordinator with the Pacific Grove of Natural History.

The museum says loss of habitat and pesticide use are also contributing factors

"But this is not the first time we have seen a concerning decline," a scientist noted. "In 2020, there were less than 2,000 in the entire state of California. They were that close to extinction," said Meredith.

However, the monarchs made an impressive rebound, bringing hope for this year.

"The butterflies were able to rebound in 2021. And I think that if we continue to work with the natural world, the natural world responds," said Johnston. "What made me hopeful wasn't just the number of monarch butterflies, but the number of people that I saw taking action, choosing native plants, going pesticide-free, making pollinator-friendly gardens."

The sanctuary says the butterflies need the right conditions to make that happen.

"But if we destroy their sanctuaries, they have no place to wonder if we destroy where the wildflowers are. And the milkweed are out in the wild. The numbers are going to go down," said Meredith.

The sanctuary says the monarch butterfly has been on the candidate list for endangered species long enough that it is time for the federal government to decide if it will officially become endangered or be taken off the list.

They were hoping to know that answer by today, but now they may not hear until early 2025.

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Not unlike the 1947 Lerner-Loewe musical “Brigadoon,” a village which retreats into obscurity yet reappears for one day every 100 years, a particular Pacific Grove neighborhood, with its tree-lined streets and well-kept homes, lives in relative anonymity. Yet once a year, the place alights with the magic of Christmas, luring throngs of revelers to cruise through Candy Cane Lane.

As far back as residents can remember — some say 1956, when the first Candy Cane Lane exhibit, constructed from coffins donated by Leland Paul of Paul’s Mortuary, was presented in Julia Platt Park — the streets of Beaumont, Morse, Holmstead and MacFarland, as well as Platt Court, have been lighting the night with traditional themes and the caricatures of the Christmas season.

The harbinger of the holiday season actually is Halloween, when the quiet neighborhood comes alive with some 2,000 trick-or-treaters knocking on doors. Some residents shop Costco; others go to Target to get enough treats to ward off tricks.

“New neighbors tell us how much candy they bought, and we tell them to get more,” said Linda Temple who, with her husband, Derek Lieberman, moved to the neighborhood in 2013. “We have a party every year, where friends bring extra candy, and everybody helps hand it out. We put out food and fire bowls, and sit out front. It’s a fun time.”

It’s a big change, says Temple, from a really quiet neighborhood on one day, to “Downtown Disney” the next. Which continues, as “Candy Cane Lane,” right through Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Buying in

Temple and Lieberman, both engineers, were looking to buy a property at a time when houses were not remaining on the market for long. She connected with the colors of a particular house, but he, not feeling connected to the community said, “Oh, we are not moving to Candy Cane Lane.” But they did. She has since served as the Candy Cane Lane Coordinator for eight years, and he has served as the historian.

“Derek is very active in Candy Cane Lane,” Temple said. “He built a garden-scale model railroad in the front yard; it’s pretty big. We can’t walk away from it because, as if it knows, it derails and there is a spectacular crash. We only run it on the weekend, when we sit outside and watch it go around and around until 9:30 p.m.”

For five hours on weekend nights, the couple sit in their yard, as cars inch along, bumper to bumper, down the street. While there’s no pressure for residents to take part in the Candy Cane Lane tradition, one has to wonder if it’s a bit like a Hallmark movie, where peer pressure prevails.

“We encourage people to participate,” said Temple, “because it’s fun for kids and adults, many of whom have been coming since they were children. It’s a wonderful community tradition.”

The couple also have a large cartoon cutout of “Calvin and Hobbs,” which they inherited with the house, and one they created of the “Kool-Aid Man,” who towers over their train track town, Temple said, like a Far Side cartoon.

Community investment

The Candy Cane Lane community annually pays tribute to the late Leslie (Les) Goode, a neighbor who built a lot of the displays that move, including his six-month investment in creating the Ferris wheel.

“One of our neighbors eventually replaced and repainted some wood on the Ferris wheel,” said Temple, “and put out a sign in honor of Les Goode. Over three work weekends, we gather from morning until afternoon, painting and making repairs throughout the display. So many neighbors step up, and their children do community service in the park. It takes 25 neighbors just to get everything out of storage.”

Surely the most imposing character in the community is the tall metal soldier, which now resides in Platt Park. Designed by Howard Cowen in the 1950s, he displayed it in front of his house on Beaumont Avenue for years, said Temple. Upon the Cowens’ passing, their children donated it to the Candy Cane Lane Park.

“I have a whole story about the soldier, ‘Pierre,’ and how he was built the by the Boy Scouts of Troop 115 — Howard was the scout master,” said Temple, “for a scout jamboree. They wanted to build something big and robotic; if not robotic, it’s certainly animated.”

One year, says Temple, Pierre was dressed as a football player for the school homecoming and, another time, as a fireman on a float in a parade in Seaside since Cowen served as a firefighter for 36 years. He also built lanterns and candy canes as light pole decorations — from which the lane derived its name.

“A couple of years ago,” said Temple, “we added a PVC light tunnel through the park, which creates a magical area. One on end is a giant gingerbread house façade designed so kids can enter, and another couple created a sleigh. No matter how much time passes through the years, neighbors seem to get more creative and involved.”

The part Temple enjoys most is when everything has been built and set up, and she is sitting by the fire, watching people go by, chatting, interacting and singing.

“We don’t need to advertise; the lights do that,” she said. “As does the history of a holiday display that has been going on for decades. It’s definitely our tradition. We don’t go out of town for the holidays. We eat dinner outside, have drinks with friends and family, and engage with people who pass by.”

Candy Cane Lane “comes to light” on the first Saturday in December — this year Dec. 7 — starting at 5 p.m. and lights go out around 10 p.m. The celebration continues through New Year’s Eve. Then the neighborhood hosts a tear-down party where residents dismantle the displays and carefully put it all away until next Christmas.

Originally Published: December 2, 2024 at 11:03 AM PST