The 12th Annual PA Firefly Festival, June 28 and June 29, 2024

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Spring is here & so the PAFF Poster is out!

Here's the poster for this year's Festival. We have a full line-up of Music for the day with music to delight all tastes. Artists and Crafters are signing up daily, so bring your wallets to shop. Food vendors include Jammin' Gyros and Annabelle's food trucks. This year's Nature exhibitors include: entomologist Denise Piechnik from University of Pittsburgh/Bradford; Naturalists Jennifer Moore from Chapman Dam State Park and Oil Creek State Park; Cecile Stetler, the State DCNR Forester; Rodney Daum from Tionesta Lake/US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Forestry Service/Allegheny National Forest. You can expect to see and learn about the many natural wonders in the Allegheny National Forest including the fireflies.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

PA Firefly Education Outreach

Presented the Firefly program to the Marienville Library on Saturday. We had a small, but receptive audience, who I am sure will help spread the news in the county about the fireflies and the festival. Thank you to librarians Jackie and Rose for all of their support and a special thank you to James for his technical support and expertise. Our next program will be June 13 at the Fern Hollow Nature Center in Sewickly, and then Chapman Dam Campground on June 20. If you are near either of those 2 areas, you are welcome to attend and learn more about fireflies in Pennsylvania and the Allegheny National Forest.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Donations

We are excited to announce a new way for you support the PA Firefly Festival's new Educational Programs. You can now go to our online funding site http://www.razoo.com/story/Pennsylvania-Firefly-Festival. This funding is strictly for the educational programs that we are doing across Pennsylvania for schools, camps, and special interest groups. So, far this year we are scheduled to present a program at Marienville Library, May 16; Fern Hollow Nature Center, Sewickley, June 13 and Chapman Dam State Park, June 20. We are trying to keep expenses to a minimum, but materials, and fuel can get expensive, (I hear gas is going up again this summer). We are also looking to sponsor a college science student internship that would eventually become the presenter. If we can raise $5,000 before June 1st, we will be up and running this year. So check out the site.

We still need sponsors for this year's festival too, so if you want to sponsor an event or activity at the festival, we can always use $$. Just send your tax deductible donations to PAFF, 13558 Route 666, Tionesta, PA 16353.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

WE ARE OFFICIALLY TAX EXEMPT

We have our tax exempt status and it is retroactive for 2014. Your donations are now tax deductible, and we are able to use the funds to continue to expand our mission of public education programs about the fireflies in the Allegheny National Forest. We are in the process of registering an online crowd funding site for you to make donations to our educational programs. We will keep you posted on that as soon as we are up and running.

We are continuing plans for this year's festival. The musicians are committed and we have another full day of music including: Broke, Stranded & Ugly, Detention, Dominick DeCecco, The Hills & Rivers, Stoney & Co, Uriah Effect, Matt Miskie and Rob & Gene.

We are still accepting applications for artists, crafters and food vendors. Contact us at pafireflyfestival@gmail.com if you are interested, as soon as possible.

If you want to help out as a firefly watcher/monitor, let us know and we will get you the information to register as a citizen scientist. We can always use volunteers at the festival as well.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

February PAFF Meeting

The second meeting of the year was productive as usual.

We are applying for the tax exempt status that will allow us to apply for grant funding of our educational programming.
We have 7 confirmed music groups including: Detention, Uriah Effect, Matt Miskie are all new; Stony and Company, Dominick DeCecco, Broke, Stranded & Ugly, and the Hills & the Rivers are returning from last year.
We are now accepting applications for artists, crafters, exhibitors and food vendors. Contact us by email pafireflyfestival@gmail.com or on facebook and we will send you an application.
We are also looking for volunteer monitors and firefly observers. We need campers, naturalists and/or citizen scientists interested in collecting data on the fireflies leading up to the festival and after. We can get you registered on Museum of Science Firefly Watch | Home and get you data collection forms.
Foremost, we want to promote and encourage firefly watching. Visitors should plan on coming to Forest County for at least a weekend or maybe a week during the 3 to 4-week-long synchronous firefly season. If you are coming to see fireflies, you may need more than a one night stay to find them. We don't want you to be disappointed due to rain, or you can't stay out late enough to see the displays. For overnight accommodations check the Forest county websiteForest County - Home or Visit PAGO PA Great Outdoors Visitors Bureau - PA Great Outdoors

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Firefly Speak

A GLOSSARY OF FIREFLY TERMS

ABDOMEN The third and last section of an insect body. Fireflies have their light organs located in their abdomen.

COLEOPTERA The classification name (Order) for the insects known as beetles. Fireflies belong to this Order.

DIURNAL Active during the daylight hours. As opposed to nocturnal. Some firefly species are diurnal.

ECLOSE to emerge, as when an adult FF emerges from the pupa cocoon.

ELYTRON (plural – elytra) The hard wing cover that protects the firefly wings. Elytra are a shared characteristic with all beetles.

ENTOMOLOGY The study of insects.

LAMPYRIDAE - The classification name (Family) of beetles that include the fireflies. Over 2000 species of Lampyridae are known in the world.

PHEROMONE A chemical released in the air by insects to attract mates. Some firefly species use pheromones instead of light signals for mating.

PRONOTUM A shield-like plate that covers the head of fireflies.

THORAX The middle section of an insect body.

Synchronous Fireflies and more

The Photinus carolinus, aka as the "Synchronous Firefly", was identified and confirmed to be in the Allegheny National Forest during the summer of 2012. A team of world-class Firefly scientists from Tennessee and Georgia came to Black Caddis Ranch for 10 days, and traveled throughout the ANF collecting specimens and studying the diversity of fireflies.

The P. carolinus is unique in that the males' flash patterns are in synchrony with each other, so they appear to be like a string of Christmas lights hanging in the forest. Other witnesses have likened it to camera flashbulbs at a sporting event. One of the other confirmed habitats in North America is in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee where 1000s of visitors line up nightly for 10 nights to see this phenomenon. More populations are being confirmed each year stretching from Georgia to New York along the Appalachian Ridge. The Synchronous fireflies are in abundance throughout the Allegheny National Forest and can be seen in the ANF recreation areas starting mid-June through early July.

Over 15 different species were identified and described along with the Synchronous. One other local species was a Photuris species dubbed the"Chinese Lanterns" by the scientists. These were observed floating across the Tionesta creek casting their glow onto the water.

Starting around July 4 to the middle of August, the "Big Dipper", Photinus pyralis, begin their displays in the fields and yards all over NW PA. They can put on quite a natural fireworks show from dusk around 9 pm to 9:45 pm. Whichever species you witness during the approximately 4-6 week season, you can be sure to have a moment of awe and wonder at this display of nature.

The season is highly dependent on weather and temperatures. We watch several different factors (both scientific hard data and "soft signs"). Follow us on Facebook for updates as the season begins and progresses in 2022.