Chase Doerfler’s sixth birthday will be remembered for a reptile show, a chance to play in a park and plant a flower with 30 friends - and a birthday cake featuring him holding an alligator.
Five months later, Dorfler will be remembering it in a personal way. The nation marks the 28th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22.
As it does, Dorfler will be observing the day that made environmental quality part of political dialogue by looking back on a sixth birthday that made a difference – to him, and to residents of Lighthouse Point.
It was his birthday party that saw a tangle of dead trees at Frank McDonough Park transformed into a riot of Penta, orange Milkweed and herbs so aromatic that even on a cool day in April, butterflies float like moats in the sunlight in a riot of blooms.
“I made a butterfly and her name was Katie,” explains Chase, of his party’s legacy. “It’s in the park’s butterfly garden.”
Mother Julie Doerfler has taken Chase to monitored the garden's progress for five months now. “We get to the park every week, on Sundays usually, and he goes over there and checks it out,” she said. “He’s very impressed.”
Chase isn’t the only one impressed. Lighthouse Point’s “Bird Lady,” Cynthia Rohkamm is known for rehabilitating birds in a rare yard that is certified by both state and county as a wildlife habitat. She said Chase’s party is as commendable as it is unusual.
“Any kid who would want for his birthday at that age to have a butterfly garden is a hero. For him to be into nature and help provide habitat for butterflies is marvelous at that age,” she said. “Maybe he will grow up to be an environmentalist.”
As with any environmental project, however, this one was not without its challenges.
“I should have done it in my yard but I decided 30 kids in my yard with reptiles and plants and amphibians and all these friends…,” Dorfler said. “That’s where Erika came in.”
"Erika" is Erika Davie, known in Lighthouse Point as the “Butterfly Lady,” Davie runs ads in the Lighthouse Point paper offering lessons on butterflies and she helped Julie Dorfler choose the plants and get city permission to replenish an existing child-sized garden. Then she guided Julie Dorfler, husband Todd, three members of the city's beautification committee and friend Tracy Mahoney through ground preparation.
On the appointed day, pint-sized planters picked a pot from the assortment bought from NuTurf and Sears’ butterfly-friendly garden store in Pompano Beach. They dug a hole, put the plant in the dirt and watered it. Almost everyone went home with a birdhouse.
“My point is it probably cost as much to do this type of birthday party as it does to go to Chuck E. Cheese or the movies, but we probably made a difference,” she said. “I want to challenge other parents to make a difference in the environment when they plan a birthday party. They could do a beach clean up, plant a tree. They can do a park clean up, plant a garden.”
And - perhaps like Voltaire - find happiness as well.
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ELIZABETH ROBERTS