Happenings – Page 2 – Travel Smart With Jodie

Halloween comes early to Highwood and Chicago Botanic Garden

(Photo courtesy of Highwood Chamber of Commerce)

More than 14 years ago, Highwood, a slightly over a square mile northeastern suburb of Chicago, decided to challenge Keene, NH’s record of most jack-o-lanterns displayed (30,581). BTW, a jack-o-lantern is a carved pumpkin.

I haven’t heard of any time since then that Highwood hit the record, but the town, actually a city, is continuing to fight for that achievement with its 14th annual “Great Highwood Pumpkin Fest,” Oct. 4-6.

Despite all the skeletons around town that will be seen in October, the fest is a very family friendly event that includes “all-you-can-carve pumpkin stations” and three days of live music from three stages. Plus, there will be children’s and pet costume contests and pumpkin pie eating contests, food and artisan vendors, a carnival and hayrides.

What to expect: Highwood will be turned into Pumpkin Town USA beginning Seto 28 and will cover the grounds at Highwood City Hall (17 Highwood Avenue), Everts Park (111 North Avenue), Painters Park (420-424 Sheridan Road) and the Highwood Metra Station Parking Lot where the carnival will be on site.

Also, expect street closures on Green Bay Road from North Avenue to Highwood Avenue, and on Highwood Avenue from Green Bay Road to Waukegan Avenue where vendors and the Great Pumpkin Walls will be.

Music stages will be at North Avenue and Green Bay, the Bandshell in Everts Park and the School of Rock Stage in Painters Park. Pumpkin Town USA will be at the center of Everts Park.

In addition, expect many camera stops as visitors shoot skeleton scenes from Superhero movies and skeletons just posing.

“The Great Highwood Pumpkin Fest put Highwood on the map and it’s the perfect kick-off to Fall after our summer series of events,” says Eric Falberg, President of Celebrate Highwood. “This year, we are proving to the world why Illinois is The Great Pumpkin (pie) State by attempting to break the Guinness World Records for the longest line of (pumpkin) pies,” says Falberg.

Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns

(Photo courtesy of the Chicago Botanic Garden)

Called the “Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns” the Chicago Botanic Garden will hold this popular (sold out last year) event on Oct 16-20 and Oct. 23-27, 2024 from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.

What to expect: Scary or funny or just plain creative, pumpkins will be gazing back as visitors gaze at their faces carved as album covers, eerie cartoons and Día de los Muertos tributes.

Also look for pumpkin-carving demos, entertainers in costume, glow-in-the-dark tattoos for kids and light food and drinks available to purchase.

Jodie Jacobs

Full moon and a Blue moon

Freshwater lake sturgeon have long, scaleless bodies with ridges along their spines.

The August full moon, called the Sturgeon Moon, falls on the 19th of this month. And it’s not just a full moon. It is a supermoon! Because its orbit brings it close to Earth it will loom larger that past moons in 2024 as it rises over the horizon. It is also a Blue Moon.

You likely won’t see it at its peak illumination at 1:26 p.m. Central Time when the sun is bright. Look for it rising in the southeastern sky after sunset. However, it will also appear to be full the evenings of Aug. 18 and Aug. 20.

It is also known as a Blue Moon because of its seasonal timeliness of four full moons in a season and not because of the other definition of two full moons in a month. August’s moon is third in the season between a solstice and the equinox.

It gets its name from the weird looking freshwater fish that are more plentiful this time of year in the Great Lakes. Among the best places to see and learn more about these lake sturgeon is the Public Museum in Grand Rapids, MI and the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL where they are in the Touch Pool.

They may also be listed in museums and aquariums as “living fossils” because their known discovered date is more than 130 million years ago.

As with other full moons, the August one also has Native American names including “Corn Moon” (Algonquin, Ojibwe) and Harvest Moon (Dakota).

BTW Even though the August moon is called a Supermoon, it will only look bigger but really won’t be larger.

For more full moon info go to the Old Farmer’s Almanac and TimeandDate.

Look up this weekend

Meteor shower (Photo courtesy of NASA)

Photo courtesy of NASA

As the song says, “catch a falling star.”

The Perseids, considered one of the best meteor showers to watch in the Northern Hemisphere, are going on right now but their peak is Aug 11-12 this year of 2024.

What to expect: 50 to 90 meteors flying across the sky in one hour.

Advantages of this shower: The moon is at its first-quarter phase so its light is not likely to interfere with meteor sightings. In addition, if you wait until after midnight, the moon will have set so the sky is even darker. But best is to watch for them just before dawn when its radiant is higher.

According to EarthSky, the Perseids usually have a good train of light and color. And they appear to come from the constellation Perseus near the Double Cluster which is why they refer to the constellation Perseus the Hero.

If not outside, watch the Perseids from the Virtual Telescope Project in Manciano, Italy, says Space.

“We will be covering the Perseid meteor shower, sharing it live on the night of its peak online,” Virtual Telescope Project founder and astronomer Gianluca Masi said in an email to Space.com.

“This year, the sky conditions will be good, with almost no moon interference. We will be taking images from our facility in Manciano, in the Maremma countryside, under one of the darkest skies in Italy,” he said.”

Also hear from NASA about the Perseid Meteor shower from its Jet Propulsion Laboratory at California Institute of Technology at What’s Up – August 2024 (nasa.gov)

Where to look: The Perseids appear to radiate from a point in the northeastern sky but with as many as can appear during its peak just lie back and look at the sky.

Jodie Jacobs

Moon and Meteors

Full summer moon (J Jacobs)

Primarily known as the “Buck Moon” because male deer antlers are full grown, July’s full moon will be at peak illumination early morning July 21 (5:17 a.m. CT). But you will see it full at night on July 20 through July 22.

Other Native American July moon names also reflect animal behavior, nature and plants such as Salmon Moon, Berry Moon and Thunder Moon.

However, you don’t want a full moon if looking for the Delta Aquariids , often called Souther Aquariids from Comet 96P/Machholz when they fly overhead from July 18 to Aug. 21, 2024. They peak July 30 but are not numerous at 15 to 20 an hour and not bright. Also, they are more visible in the Southern Hemisphere and Southern US.

So be patient because the popular Perseids which zoom overhead late July to early September, will peak about Aug. 12 with more than 90 meteorites per hour.

For more information visit Buck Moon: Full Moon in July 2024 | Almanac.com, EarthSky Perseids and NASA.

Strawberry moon and summer solstice

If you noticed the moon looks brighter, closer and fuller even on June 19, two days before it’s full, you are right.

The June full moon will appear at 8:08 p.m. CT June 21, 2024 and will look extra-large because it is the lowest full moon we have seen in years. It’s just an illusion.

Also, because it is low it will appear more reddish orange due to the atmosphere and not because it is called the Strawberry Moon. That name recognizes the fruit that is often ripe about the same mid-June time. Other names are rose moon, honey moon, mead moon, berries ripen moon, planting moon and green corn moon.

After sunset, look southeast to see it rise over the horizon. For the time it rises locally see Full Moon Calculator.

In addition, the June moon is special this year because it happens at the same time as the summer solstice, when we in the northern hemisphere experience the longest day.

For more information visit Old Farmer’s Almanac and Time and Date and June Solstice 2024: Shortest & Longest Day of the Year (timeanddate.com)

Flower Moon

It may be hard to look up at May’s full moon when it appears on Thursday without thinking of the tragic, multi-nominated, award-winning movie produced and directed by Martin Scorsese and co-written by Eric Roth.

The movie is a true-crime drama. When oil was discovered on the Osage Nation property in Oklahoma during the Flower Moon festival in the 1920s it resulted in several Osage murders by people who wanted their oil rights and property.

As many readers of “Travel Smart with Jodie” know, the full-moon articles often note that the moon names come from different sources ranging from Native American tribes to European countries and reflect what is happening at that time in nature.

Other names are Budding Moon and Leaf Budding Moon (Cree), Planting Moon (Dakota and Lakota).

Except that moon names are annual, this year of 2024, it might also be called the cicada moon because at least in northern Illinois, the 17-year cicadas are just beginning to emerge.

No matter what you want to call the May moon it actually reaches full illumination at 9:53 a.m. EDT, the morning of May 23 but looks full on May 22 and will still look full on May 24. The Old Farmer’s Almanac tells when it is visible where you live on its Moonrise and Moonset Calculator.

Also find more information at Flower Moon: Full Moon in May 2024 | The Old Farmer’s Almanac at May’s full moon is called the Flower Moon (earthsky.org) and Flower Moon Is the Full Moon in May (timeanddate.com).

Meteor shower tonight

Meteor shower (Photo courtesy of NASA)

(Photo courtesy of NASA)

Look up tonight. The Eta Aquarids, named for the constellation Aquarius from where they seem to radiate, has been shooting stars since April 19 and will continue to do so through May 28 but their peak is this weekend.

They have been known to reach 50 meteors per hour. Although they can be seen in both hemispheres, they are supposed to be easier to catch in the southern hemisphere.

Their parent comet is 1P/Halley but for more information visit Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower 2024 (timeanddate.com)

The Lyrids are here

Meteor shower (Photo courtesy of NASA)

(Photo courtesy of NASA)

How to “catch” a falling star? Go outside somewhere without a distracting light, Dress for the weather and be patient.

One of the oldest known meteor showers, the Lyrids, will be peaking tomorrow on Earth Day. Best is to watch for them late Monday night and very early Tuesday morning.

They tend to average about 18 per hour but have been known to shoot out as many as 100 meteors per hour. However, the moon which is almost full, now, might make the meteors harder to catch.

These meteors are very bright but they move fast. Their velocity is 29 miles (47 kilometers) per second.

The Lyrids started about April 15 and will last until April 29 but the highest number will be seen shooting across the sky before dawn, April 23.

First reported by the Chinese in 687 BC, the Lyrids’ radiant is Constellation Lyra with C/1861 G1 Thatcher as its comet of origin.

For more information visit EarthSky, NASA Science and Space.

Pink Full Moon not really pink

(JJacobs March 2024 full moon photo)

Look for April’s full moon next week. Peak illumination will be 6:49 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, April 23,2024. But even though it is named the Pink Moon, it won’t take on a rosy shade.

Moon names often reflect what is happening in nature so pink is for the color of the phlox blooms that usually show up in the eastern part of North America in April.

Called Phlox subulata, it is a creeping or spreading form of the wild flower also called moss phlox.

Other names for the April moon depend on when in the month it appears full and how close to Easter and Passover or weather changes it happens. So sometimes it is called the Paschal or Egg Moon or the Breaking Ice Moon, Budding Moon and Awakening Moon.

The moon will also look full April 22 and April 24 so if the sky is cloudy you can also capture its fullness the day before and after.

For more information visit The Old Farmer’s Almanac and Time and
Date.

Spring events you should know

There’s still time to plan a visit to see Tulip Time in Holland Michigan. ( J Jacobs photos)

The eclipse is here and gone and it was great – maybe beyond most expectations. But there are more interesting and fun events coming this spring.

First, there are Earth Day walks in your area forest preserves and at the Chicago Botanic Garden and Morton Arboretum

Earth Day/s April 21-22

The Lake County Forest Preserves Hasting Lake site, 21155 W. Gelden Rd., Lake Villa, has an Earth Day walk April 21 from 2 to 4 p.m. (Shelter A)

This is a chance to visit and explore an area is the western part of the county you may not have visited before. Its for all ages and no registration is needed but adult supervision is required. (No pets but service dogs ok)

Event includes free, guided hikes and crafts. For more information visit Earth Day: The Official Site | EARTHDAY.ORG

Chicago Botanic Garden

Also, April 21 at 2.p.m. is a 45 minute guided walk at McDonald Woods in Glencoe, IL (or do your own walk here at any time). There is a choice of a short (1/3 mile or longer loop of a 2/3 mile. (walks canceled if heavy rain) Parking and Garden admission charged for nonmembers. For more information visit Earth Day Walk in McDonald Woods | Chicago Botanic Garden

Tulip Time May 4-12

Then, in early May, tulips will be coloring the downtown landscape, parks and Windmill Island in Holland MI during Tulip Time, the towns, big, annual flower festival. Plus, there are traditional dances to watch and other activities during the fest. Tulip Time is worth the trip so book a B’n’B or hotel and get to know the town, its heritage and visit its wooden shoe factories on the outskirts of downtown. For more information visit Tulip Time.