LAWRENCE: Little ones emerge at Firefly Festival

By Jennifer Bradley, Staff Writer
   The bright smiles of children combined with glowing fireflies to light up the evening sky over Terhune Orchards at the Firefly Festival on Sunday.
   Kids decorated their own firefly wings, conquered an obstacle course created by Schafer’s Gymnastics and enjoyed wagon or pony rides. Some also rocked out with Miss Amy and her band as she performed kid friendly tunes that help with language development and encourage kids to lead an active lifestyle.
   ”My favorite part was transforming from a human to a firefly,” said Annabel Tindal, 7, from Hillsborough, who was making bug antennae with her twin sister, Olivia.
   Both girls said they liked fireflies because they light up and are very friendly.
   ”I have a favorite song called ‘Fireflies’ by Owl City,” said Annabel “It’s so dreamy and I always wanted to catch fireflies.”The festival was also fun for adults as they enjoyed the homemade food and tasted the farm’s award-winning wine.
   ”It’s a nice atmosphere,” said Annabel’s mom, Charlotte Tindal. “It’s not too busy and you don’t have to pay for entrance or parking. It’s a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.”
   Ms. Tindal said the family comes to Terhune Orchards a lot to pick fruit, which was another activity offered at the festival.
   ”I liked when we picked blueberries,” said Brianna Capell, 5, from Lawrenceville, who was decorating her firefly wings. “I’m making mine with flowers and rainbows,” she said as she finished adding red to the rainbow on her wings.
   While Brianna and others were finishing up their wings, Caroline Johnson, 8, and Ava Govan, 8, who are from Skillman, finished the firefly obstacle course.
   ”It was so much fun,” said Caroline. “My favorite part was the first big jump.”
   ”I liked walking across the balance beam,” said Ava.
   Kids also tumbled, vaulted and jumped through the obstacle course as they aimed to fly like fireflies.
   Children pretended to be different animals and danced around with scarves as Miss Amy made exercising and learning words fun.
   ”Miss Amy’s band is a big hit every year,” said Pam Mount, one of Terhune Orchards’ owners. “The band is very energetic and Miss Amy is great with kids.”
   Ms. Mount also said that the festival as a whole is popular every year and attracts thousands of participants.
   According to Ms. Mount, Terhune Orchards began the festival because they were asked to take it over by the childrens’ library at Princeton University.
   The childrens’ library at the university hosted a similar firefly celebration, but realized that they needed a field for the participants to actually see and catch fireflies.
   ”One of the things about Terhune Orchards is that we are a family farm, so we like to celebrate the coming together of families in a natural environment,” she said.
   The festival went from 4 to 9 p.m., and as the sky darkened fireflies began to emerge and children ran after them to try and catch the insects and put them into their handmade bug boxes.
   ”On a farm insects are not always a negative,” said Ms. Mount. “We are trying to cultivate many of them and this festival is one way of showing that.”