Will County Forest District celebrates summer of the cicada with special merchandise

With some billing it as the summer of the cicada, the Forest Preserve District of Will County has a special T-shirt emblazoned with an illustration of the buzzy bug and the words, “Be Loud, Be Proud.”

Shirts are available to buy on the forest district’s merchandise website, OutsiderThreads.com, for $20. Spend at least $50 on the website through April 28 to receive 20% off your entire order. Use promo code Spend50 at checkout, according to a news release from the forest district.

This summer will be unique because broods of 17-year and 13-year cicadas are going to emerge simultaneously, which is something that hasn’t happened since 1803 and won’t happen again until 2245.

The brood overlap in Illinois will mostly occur in central and southern Illinois, but it still is likely to be a noisy summer in Will County with the 17-year cicada emergence, according to the release.

In addition to the cicada shirt, the forest district just added several new nature-themed shirt designs for toddlers and youth, with some matching shirts for adults.

The “Little Stinker” skunk shirts for children and “Big Stinker” shirts for adults, and some of the popular adult shirts, including the “Every Day I’m Hustlin” turtle shirt, are now available in youth and toddler sizes, according to the release.

In addition to online sales, the forest district staff will be selling shirts and other merchandise this summer at The Nature Foundation of Will County’s Bringing Nature Home native plant sale at Isle a la Cache preserve in Romeoville from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 18, and 9 a.m. to noon Sunday, May 19.

Also, merchandise will be sold at all three Fun & Food Truck programs from 5 to 8 p.m. Fridays on June 14 at Whalon Lake in Naperville, July 12 at Hammel Woods (Route 59 Access in Shorewood) and Aug. 9 at Hickory Creek (LaPorte Road Access in Mokena), according to the release.

All merchandise sales proceeds benefit The Nature Foundation of Will County, which provides money to the Forest Preserve District for conservation, restoration and nature education efforts.