Hundreds of participants, as well as numerous fireflies that lit up the forest underneath High Bridge, illuminated the state park Friday and Saturday during its Firefly Festival.

To view more photos of the festival, click here.

People filled the Camp Paradise and River Road entrances, where they made their way to High Bridge, getting a beautiful view of the sunset as well as the fireflies dotting the landscape after dark.

Park Manager Daniel Jordan and Ranger Craig Guthrie spoke about the origin of the festival, which allowed participants to see the firefly population at its peak.

“A number of years ago, during one of those (evening) programs, looking at stars, someone looked below and said there were stars twinkling below High Bridge,” Jordan said. “So the Firefly Festival was born. It’s definitely a treasure, and something we want to share with you.”

While initially worried that the flooding in May washed out the firefly population, park rangers’ worries were put to rest once green dots of light began to dot the top of trees after sunset.

In addition to enjoying barbecue and chicken from food vendors such as Bojangles, making miniature lava lamps and reading stories provided by Farmville-Prince Edward Community Library, Guthrie spoke about fascinating facts behind the glowing beetles and took questions from audience members.