48th Annual Topanga Days, May 27-29

Topanga Days is the greatest volunteer opportunity of the year and the largest fundraiser for the Topanga Community Center (TCC).

By Nonie Shore

The Topanga Days Memorial Day Parade rolls out the morning of May 29, Memorial Day, and now is the time to reserve your space for a parade float and for local businesses to continue a tradition created last year to support the parade.

Costs for Topanga Days have almost doubled this year as have CHP and permit costs for the parade. The TCC is on private property and entrusted to a volunteer board to manage and enhance the income to maintain this 11-acre property. Much of the income depends on support from the community through memberships and events, but also from rentals and outside events such as weddings.

Volunteer and Support Opportunities

• For tickets (ONLINE ONLY, 50% discount for TCC members), find band schedules, sign up for a Parade float, become a Parade Donor, a Topanga Days Sponsor, or simply to volunteer, visit topangadays.com.

• Become a TCC Member and reap the benefits now and year-round. topangacommunitycenter.org/membership.

• To help support the cost of Topanga Days overall, anyone, family or business, can sponsor the event. To join current business sponsors to “Maintain the Parade” as do the Wright Way Team at Compass, William Preston Bowling from Pritchett Rapf, Suncoast Mortgage, Endless Color, Topanga Lumber and Exposition Studios, please contact events@topangacommunitycenter.org

The Topanga Community Center is excited to be able to host this three-day bohemian music festival with tasty food, drinks, craft vendors, a fun zone for the kids and more!

About the Topanga Community Center. The TCC is a 501(c)3 non-profit volunteer organization, independently owned and maintained by the citizens of Topanga and is not supported by any county or state taxes. Its mission is to serve the community of Topanga by providing access and support for philanthropic, educational, and community activities and services while protecting, maintaining, upgrading and enhancing the Community House and the grounds entrusted to its care.

The Giant Swallowtail

By Bill Buerge

My first encounter with this spectacular animal was in the fall some years ago when a neighbor spotted a bizarre mottled worm-like organism on his orange tree. We sequestered it into a small butterfly rearing enclosure for observation, with citrus leaves for food. It soon pupated into a chrysalis, but strangely enough didn’t emerge as this gorgeous creature—a giant swallowtail—until spring. We were reminded of a survival phenomenon called diapause where, like a bear hibernating through winter, butterflies can go into a period of suspended development to wait for more favorable weather.

The giant swallowtail is the largest butterfly in North America with a wing span of five to six inches. Originally native to the south and eastern U.S., this species has inch-wormed and flown its way west over the past 50 years attracted to citrus plants, both commercial and domestic, as a caterpillar food source and is now well-established in Southern California, much to the dismay of citrus farmers who call them “orange dogs.” They remarkably resemble fresh bird droppings as a clever disguise to deter poop-adverse predators. Who would have suspected that such a spectacular gold-spangled beauty could come from fake bird crap? Such is the endlessly fascinating and beguiling world of butterflies.