Did you hear? If you didn’t catch the buzz at the May 4 Cicada Celebration and Exhibit Grand Opening in Glenview, you will still hear the buzz.
The story will unfold as cicadas emerge this month. To make the 17-year cicada experience all the more memorable, then head on over to The Grove National Historic Landmark in Glenview for a free exhibit and more noise.
Saturday’s complimentary grand opening celebration with approximately 500 attendees included photo opportunities, crafts and play tunnels for kiddies to travel through like a cicada emerging from soil. The weather was sunny and in the 70-degree range.
Families could make collectible buttons marking 2024 as a cicada summer year as a banner memory maker. Noisemakers helped since cicadas were still mostly underground that Saturday.
But heads up, or down, depending on if cicadas are on sidewalks or in the sky along trees, cicada noise is coming to a scene near you.
“We’ve been seeing cicadas emerge since April 30,” said Lorin Ottlinger of Glenview, director of The Grove, who has not, “seen any flying yet.
“With the warm temperatures this week, they should be starting to come out everywhere.
“But they’re emerging,” Ottlinger said, “and then they transform to adults and then they’ll be singing and flying very, very soon, we think.”
The self-guided cicada exhibit at the Glenview Park District property at 1421 Milwaukee Avenue continues through September. For cicada fashionistas, you can even buy cicada wing earrings there.
“We are so excited for the 17-year cicadas to visit us again,” Ottlinger said. “We’re so happy that people are out here celebrating with us.
“These fascinating creatures have been waiting 17 years under the ground to make their appearance and so we’re happy to be out here celebrating them.”
The Brood XIII Periodical Cicada has wide-set eyes, emits loud acoustic signals, and emerged last time in 2007.
Lucky finders in 2007 might recall finding the rare cicada with pale blue eyes. Field notes from The Grove indicate the blue-eyed cicada was seen there on June 5, 2007.
According to https://glenviewparks.org/free-cicada-exhibit-at-the-grove/, from May through June, over about five weeks, 16 states will have the mass emergence of billions or trillions of periodical cicadas.
Northern Illinois will experience only one emergence, Brood XIII, but some areas downstate will have a double emergence of Brood XIII, along with the 13-year cicada, Brood XIX.
These two broods last appeared together in 1803 and won’t appear together again until 2245, according to The Grove.
According to Ottlinger, periodical cicadas emerge from underground burrows and climb trees, where the males start calling for females. After they mate, and the female cicadas lay eggs in tree branches, the adults die, but launch a new generation.
The nymphs hatch and fall to the ground, where they burrow down and live underground until the year 2041 when the next emergence occurs.
Cicadas do not bite, sting or swarm and are sometimes like popcorn treats to squirrels, and yes, even family dogs who have been known to gain a few pounds if allowed to snack on the protein. Humans can eat cicadas too and can bake them in cookies, Ottlinger confirmed.
“Cicadas are good protein,” Ottlinger said.
This autumn, “We’re going to be looking for fat squirrels,” joked Michael Ransom of Glenview, the parent of Amelia, 6, a kindergartner, and Juliet, 3.
The three posed for the cicada oversized wing photo opportunity and the girls’ father said Amelia and Juliet were, “excited” to learn about cicadas.
“They’re having a blast, we love coming over to The Grove,” Michael Ransom said.
Jaime Sepulveda of Glenview heard children Santiago, 8, a third-grader and Nicolas, 6, a first-grader make a buzz with noisemakers.
Jaime Sepulveda was in his mid-20s in 2007 at the last cicada emergence and was close to the age where Santiago will be at the next emergence in 17 years.
That is, “pretty crazy,” to think about, Jaime Sepulveda said.
“I remember there being a lot of cicadas,” Jaime Sepulveda said of 2007. “I just remember there being tons everywhere.”
Allison Kubasiak of Glenview attended the opening with daughters Evelyn, 4, and Mackenzie, 2.
“I’m happy that they get to see it in person and see it from their younger eyes,” Kubasiak said about Evelyn and Mackenzie.
“We come here (to The Grove) probably once a week,” the girls’ mother said. The staff are, “so wonderful, they’re so educational.”
Jessica Mazza of Niles watched her son Michael Miglore, 2, burrow through the pretend cicada tunnel.
“If he remembers,” Mazza said of Michael about the 2024 cicada experience, “that would be neat.
“We love The Grove,” Mazza added, wishing on May 4 to, “hopefully find a few bugs.”
Before your free visit, check out https://glenviewparks.org/free-cicada-exhibit-at-the-grove/.
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
