The Pennsylvania Firefly Festival announced that since 2012, the PAFF has hosted 4,931 festival patrons at the annual Forest County festival and this past year over 2,500 lottery applications were submitted for the one hundred sixty event tickets.

Registration for the 2025 Festival ticket lottery is open until March 30. 

Guests attending the festivities enjoyed music, art, shared campfire stories and learned about firefly conservation during the late June festival in Kellettville, PA.

Attendees also learned about the key role of water quality, soil condition and dark sky for invertebrate habitat conservation.

The firefly festival continues to introduce out-of-state visitors to the region and be an economic stimulus to the region.

The farthest US families travelled from California while international visitors included families from Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia.

Based on a survey, the average person spent $300 on fuel, food, lodging, event tickets, and shopping on the way to and from the event.

Out-of-state visitors often fly into Pittsburgh and choose hotels near the airport which adds another $100 to $200 to their expenses.

Since inception, the PAFF festival’s projected regional economic impact exceeds $1,450,000.

Our 2,200 newsletter subscribers, 3,500 Facebook followers, generous donors, volunteers, the PA Wilds, Allegheny County Parks, US Army Corp of Engineers, and Bucknell University all contributed to the growth of educational programing throughout Pennsylvania.

Click Here for 2024 Economic Impact Report.

Educational Programs

In 2024 PAFF delivered STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) based firefly themed educational programs for community groups in Pittsburgh, Erie, Scranton, as well as in Forest County.

For information about festival events for 2025 and educational programs, visit the Pennsylvania Firefly Festival website.

[Posted: February 10, 2025]

2/17/2025