News Release

Congaree National Park Cancels 2020 Fireflies Festival

Date: April 21, 2020
Contact: Greg Cunningham

Hopkins, SC – Congaree National Park has canceled the 2020 Fireflies Festival, which had been scheduled for May 11-24. Superintendent K. Lynn Berry said, “It was only after careful consideration and out of concern for the health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners, that we made this difficult decision. The park team enjoys introducing visitors to this awesome natural phenomenon and we know that people love the fireflies, but safety is our number one priority. There are still uncertainties about where South Carolina will be along the ‘curve’ in mid-May, but there is a need for continued vigilance.”  


Last year the park welcomed more than 12,000 visitors to the fireflies event, a number which would make adhering to social distancing guidelines impossible this year. The park also lost valuable planning time in March and April, which are the key preparation months for this massive effort. Our ability to recruit and train over 100 volunteers, collaborate with partners, and bring in additional staffing resources has been severely limited.  

It is also important to protect sensitive firefly habitat, which could easily be overwhelmed in the absence of a carefully structured event, including dedicated viewing areas, managed pedestrian flows, safety lighting and other measures. Considering this, we have decided that park gates will be closed nightly during firefly season, regardless of the overall operational status of the park at that time.

As a reminder to the public, Congaree National Park remains closed to park visitors until further notice. We will notify the public of any changes in our operations and will provide updates on our website www.nps.gov/cong and social media channels. The NPS encourages people to take advantage of the many digital tools already available to explore Congaree National Park, including:  

• Live and pre-recorded ranger programs, interactive activities for children and adults, and special virtual events via the park’s social media channels:
  Facebook: CongareeNP
  Twitter: CongareeNPS
  Instagram: CongareeNPS
• Rangers are available seven days a week to answer questions about the park (email: [e-mail]).

Park staff are exploring possible opportunities for virtual experiences of this natural phenomenon. 

Updates about NPS operations will be posted on www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

www.nps.gov