What's the buzz this summer? Cicadas!
In early to mid-May of 2024, periodical cicadas began to emerge from the soil in northern Illinois for the first time in 17 years to spend three to four weeks as adult insects. These cicadas are harmless to humans and pets—they cannot sting, bite, or pinch—but there will be many millions of them. Particularly in areas with lots of mature trees, their mating calls will be very loud and they may be annoying.
Cicadas emerge every year somewhere in the eastern United States, at either 13-year or 17-year intervals. This year is remarkable because two broods are emerging simultaneously for the first time in 221 years. That does not mean that the Chicago area will see more cicadas than usual: The two broods occupy different geographic ranges, so most places, including the Chicago area, will experience only a normal cicada emergence. The two-brood emergence mainly means that a wider area than usual will see periodical cicadas this year.
Source: Morton Arboretum
To celebrate this monumental cicada emergence, the Rust-Oleum team jumped on the opportunity to sponsor and participate in Cicada-Parade-a !
Cicada Parade-a is a large-scale collaborative art project organized by The Insect Asylum that will be on display in and around Chicago starting in May and running through the end of summer 2024.
This project celebrates once-in-221-year re-emergence of Broods XIII and XIX, Illinois’ 17-year and 13-year cicada broods.
Hand crafted plaster cicada sculptures were created by The Insect Asylum to be decorated and hung throughout the city in public spaces.
The cicadas will be geo tracked on an integrated map that contains information on each of the artists, their community and their journey.
Proceeds from this project will help The Insect Asylum raise funds to build a community rooftop garden advancing their mission to support, protect and grow the community and ecosystem together.
Check out team Rust-Oleum's Cicada-Parade-a submissions below. Do you have a cicada story? Share it in the comments! 🦗
