photo by: Adobe Stock

Fireflies are soft-bodied beetles that are also known as lightning bugs or glowworms.

Every summer, Burroughs Creek Park sparkles with lightning bugs, and this year the city will be making the most of it with its first ever Firefly Festival.

The free festival — from 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 14, in Burroughs Creek Park, 900 E. 15th St. — will include art, live music and nature exploration. The splash pad at the site will also be on.

The festival will kick off with a community picnic, where residents are encouraged to bring dinner and drinks. A blanket or chairs are also encouraged. For those who don’t feel like picnicking, the Juneteenth Celebration in South Park, less than a mile from the Burroughs Creek Trail, will be going on the same day with food trucks and live music.

After the picnic, the concert will begin at 7 p.m. Three local bands will play: Sky Smeed, Signal Ridge, and Megafauna. Opportunities for music jams will be available before and after the concert. Both artists and musicians are encouraged to bring their media and/or instruments.

Following the performances, everyone is invited to experience the sparks on the creek, an interactive firefly walk along the Burroughs Creek.

The site is accessible by the Burroughs Creek Rail Trail, which runs through the Barker, Brook Creek and East Lawrence neighborhoods. Attendees are encouraged to carpool or use the trail as the parking lot will be closed to most vehicles for set-up and art before and after the event.

Fireflies begin their nightly celebration at dusk. Organizers ask residents to keep it dark to enhance firefly viewing and to go easy on the bug spray.

The Firefly Festival is sponsored by Outdoors Unscripted and their Showcasing Open Space through Accessible Adventure grant program. The event has been made possible by the City of Lawrence through the Parks, Recreation and Culture Department and supported by Cottin’s Hardware, the Third Planet, the Granada Theater, Lawrence Acupuncture, One Heart Farm, Van Go, Brook Creek and East Lawrence Neighborhood Associations, as well as numerous individuals.

Additional information is available at burroughscreekcorridor.love.