One of Santa Barbara’s summer favorites is in the running for the nation’s Best Butterfly Garden: the Sprague Butterfly Pavilion at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH). The nomination by USA TODAY 10BEST Reader’s Choice Awards recognizes the Museum’s recurring exhibit Butterflies Alive! and gives the public a chance to support national recognition of a local gem.
USA TODAY’s 10BEST Reader’s Choice Awards highlight the best of the best in various travel and lifestyle categories, including destinations, food and drink, and attractions. The public can vote for one nominee per category, per calendar day (based on Eastern Time), April 14–May 12, 2025. The voting period for Best Butterfly Garden runs before the Museum’s exhibit reopens for the summer on May 24, so the Museum is counting on the good memories of regional fans to get out the vote.
Traditionally running from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend each year, Butterflies Alive! has drawn increasingly wide appreciation since it first took flight in 2001. The construction of the Sprague Butterfly Pavilion in 2018 gave the exhibit a permanent home that lets in plenty of sunshine for basking butterflies and growing nectar plants. Santa Barbara sandstone walls and boulders root the one-of-a-kind outdoor structure in the texture of the local environment.
The Museum’s Director of Guest Experience Kim Zsembik has run the exhibit since 2018. Today, Butterflies Alive! is an immersive experience that features about 1,000 butterflies from over two dozen beautiful tropical species. Guests can peer into the emergence chamber in nearby Santa Barbara Gallery to see butterflies at an earlier stage of life. If they’re lucky, they may even witness an adult butterfly popping out of its chrysalis.
“The nominees are chosen by experts and reviewed by USA TODAY 10BEST editors, but it’ll be up to the public to choose the final winners,” says Zsembik. “We expect to be in the running with some big institutions with a lot of name recognition, and we’re excited to compete on our merits.”
Fans of Butterflies Alive! are invited to vote daily on the awards website: https://10best.usatoday.com/qr/47699/
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