The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will hold the annual synchronous fireflies viewing event June 2 through June 9.

Visitors need to reserve a parking pass for the Sugarlands Visitor Center so they can take a shuttle to Elkmont. You can reserve tickets on recreation.gov. Tickets are $1.50 plus a ticket on the shuttle is $1.00 round trip.

Advance passes for the event sold out in minutes, but the park still has 85 passes for each day of the event that they will sell starting at 10 a.m the day before. Those can be reserved through recreation.gov.

With the rain in the forecast, Great Smoky Mountain National Parks representatives said the fireflies will still flash in a light drizzle, but not in a downpour.

“They may or may not start up again following really heavy rains,” explained Dana Soehn, park spokesperson.
Elkmont fireflies_bielenberg

Thousands of people flock to the Great Smoky Mountains every June to see the famous synchronous fireflies at Elkmont. Elkmont is one of the few places in the world where you can see the Photinus carolinus, a firefly species that flashes synchronously. It has become so popular, that the park has had to take steps over the years to limit the number of people that could view the fireflies each night.

(WBIR-TV)