Torch passed at Magic Wings to another brother-sister duo

SOUTH DEERFIELD — After being on the market for 12 years, longtime owners Kathy Fiore and George Miller III have officially sold the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens to siblings Victoria Tubbs and Vytautas Sukys.

The $2.5 million deal included every chameleon, lizard, frog, stick bug, vampire crab and all 4,000 butterflies flying and crawling in Magic Wings.

“All of the butterflies, I own each one,” Tubbs said, beaming. “It feels fantastic.”

When Tubbs first walked into Magic Wings, a blindfold blocked her view of the butterflies.

Her now husband was about to pop the question after planning the proposal in secret. Long after she said “yes,” the conservatory’s tropic air and animals stuck with her.

Several years and a few kids later, she asked her brother, who brings a background in aerospace engineering, to leave his job in their home state of Michigan and embark on the butterfly business with her.

“Our folks lost their minds!” Tubbs remembered, laughing with her brother.

But when their dad asked, “Are you sure?” Tubbs did not hesitate.

“I see so much potential here, not just for me, but for our staff as well,” she said.

Fiore and Miller have been training Tubbs and Sukys on the ins and outs of running a butterfly conservatory to ease the transition. The sale was finalized on Jan. 16.

“To actually hear that our goal has been accomplished now, we officially own Magic Wings, now we’re able to start the little tweaks, and we want to add to the customer experience,” Sukys said.

The two have no shortage of plans. After upgrading the internet and website, they plan to start a membership program, with discounts on new classes and food and access to members-only events. Classes will range from building seed bombs to glass blowing with Greenfield-based artists and pinning butterflies in frames.

“There is a demand for people to learn about butterflies, because butterflies are one of those natural artistic pieces,” Sukys said. “They fly around and they create art with their flight.”

The siblings also plan to reorganize the gift shop and sell products from local artists, host more events like a Mother’s Day brunch and open the café ahead of the conservatory’s grand reopening celebration on June 13.

Curious kids will also have more opportunities to engage with the conservatory’s creatures, like peering through a large magnifying glass in the display room to see the scales of butterfly wings displayed on a television screen. Outside, the gardens will grow milkweed, the monarch butterfly’s favorite snack, with hanging planets above a pathway.

According to Sukys and Tubbs, amid the transition in ownership, employees had to reapply to continue working at Magic Wings. They said a few employees did not reapply to stay with the business. The pair also hired a new addition to the team, Amy Britt, who handles Magic Wings’ marketing and communications.

Sukys and Tubbs say they often hear from customers, “I haven’t been here since I was a child.” With more outreach, marketing and partnerships with local businesses, they hope to spread the word about Magic Wings.

Instead of merely being a destination for special occasions, “We want to be that third place between work and home,” Tubbs said. “Let us give you a reason to come back more.”

Located close to Interstate 91, the conservatory catches visitors from Connecticut, Vermont and New York, a net of customers they hope to widen.

“[Route] 5 and 10 is such an artery. There’s so many different things that you can do,” Sukys said.

“It’s beautiful here. Why wouldn’t we want to share it with everybody?” Tubbs said.

The sale bookends several years of family memories for former owners and siblings Fiore and Miller, including their parents’ 40th wedding anniversary, as well as Fiore’s wedding and Miller’s wedding. No longer running Magic Wings, they will finally be able to travel to the family house in Florida together after years of one traveling south while the other ran the conservatory, Fiore said in November.

With Tubbs, 40, and Sukys, 32, taking the Magic Wings wheel, ownership will switch from one brother-sister duo to another.

“We work so well together, it’s ridiculous,” Tubbs said.

While Sukys handles the science, like ensuring the conservatory’s butterflies fly in the right temperature, Tubbs tackles the social side of the job.

“I’m more nuts and bolts and numbers, and she’s facing the people, the customers,” Sukys explained.

“Where I can do weddings, he makes sure we don’t freeze to death,” Tubbs echoed.

Growing up with their parents and three other siblings in Baroda, Michigan, the siblings were trained on teamwork.

“Constantly work together, that’s the goal,” Sukys said.

“If he has a problem, I help him. If I have a problem, he will help me. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, how do we solve it?” Tubbs continued. “This is a big project and we’re going to need each other.”