Zinnia & Monarch Festival History
On March 20, 2018, the Zion City Council voted to make the Zinnia the Zion Flower to beautify the neighborhoods and entice residents to participate in a healthy activity. It was sparked by “Lilacs in Lombard”. Upon returning from a Zion Park District Senior Trip in 1999, bus driver Cheri Neal began researching flowers that the Zion community could embrace and showcase. She found that the Zinnia came in every size from tiny to huge, and in a wide variety of colors, a perfect a symbol to represent Zion’s unique diversity. Additionally, Zinnias represent Joy! What better to plant in a community than Joy? The effort has grown with the new goal of making Zion the Zinnia Capital!
On April 6, 2021, the Zion City Council passed a resolution making Zion a Monarch City USA. This project was sparked with a trip to Port Washington, Wisconsin by the Queen Bees of Zion Red Hat Society, noticing a sign designating them as a Monarch City. What is unique for Zion, IL is that both the Zinnia and the Monarch come from Mexico, much like many of our residents, so this was symbolic to our city. The Zion Park District was contacted and as it turns out, they were already involved with a number of projects that qualified Zion, IL as a Monarch City USA, except for one thing…there was no community event celebrating the Monarchs. A group was formed and a festival for the Monarchs launched. The second year, Carlen Borland, life-long Monarch enthusiast stepped up to chair the Festival event in 2022. The festival was a huge success by all measures. In the spring of 2023, resident Sarah Petersen submitted a suggestion to make the festival a Zinnia and Monarch Festival. That idea took root and on August 19 and 20, 2023, the official Zinnia and Monarch Festival was born. Special thanks go to the City of Zion for their grant to help promote this festival.