Guests at an upcoming memorial service can walk through a tent with 1,000 fluttering butterflies and watch as they are set free.

Annually for two decades, Avow Hospice has held a butterfly exhibit and ceremony to honor loved ones. Annalise Smith, Chief Philanthropy Officer for Avow, explained why butterflies are used for this purpose.

"Butterflies are sort of an international symbol that many hospices use, and it signifies rebirth, new life. Hope. … it can be interpreted in different ways, by different people," she said.

The morning’s events start with an exhibit.

"We have a giant tent that we erect in the park that holds the butterflies. And we have all sorts of signage in the plants and within the tents that people can match up the butterfly that lands on their hand with the different type of butterfly we have, I know painted ladies are one of the types, monarchs."

After the exhibit, there’s a service of readings and music.

"The memorial service lasts for just over an hour, and during the service … we do readings in honor of living people, or in memory of folks who have passed away. At the conclusion of reading all of the names, we have a final prayer or a message to the crowd, and then we do release the butterflies out into the air," Smith said.

The service is Saturday, March 28 from 9 a.m. to about noon at North Collier Regional Park in Naples. For more information or to register for the reading of a loved one’s name for a $55 donation, go to avowcares.org.