Mayor announces Everett Firefly Celebration on Sept. 12

Special to The Advocate

  Mayor Carlo DeMaria and the City of Everett – thanks to funding from the Everett Citizens Foundation – in collaboration with the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) are pleased to announce Everett’s Firefly Celebration taking place on Monday, September 12 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Rivergreen Park.

  The event will feature 32 colorful firefly sculptures designed and built by local artist Carolyn Lewenberg in collaboration with the City of Everett and MyRWA. The sculptures were built from local recycled materials and aluminum wings, with original designs by young people from Everett. Solar-powered LED lights allow the fireflies to light up the night sky. The decorations on the sculptures were designed by a collaborative effort between eighth graders and first graders at the Madeline English School, led by science teacher Bruce Jaffe.

  These firefly sculptures amplify our City’s commitment to a more balanced relationship between humans and the natural ecosystems of the Malden River. Fireflies are crucial to the ecology of New England’s native fields, meadows, forests and wetlands – and they experience habitat loss as these areas become degraded or vanish due to development and poor land use management. Restoring biodiverse habitats, such as Rivergreen Park, will invite fireflies and other important pollinator species back to our community.

  Pollinator species are animals like bees, butterflies and fireflies that drink nectar from plants or feed off pollen. These animals pollenate other plants during the process of transporting pollen grains as they move from plant to plant.

  Residents are encouraged to attend to learn more about the importance of fireflies and other pollinator species to our local ecosystem, view the sculptures and enjoy food and music.