Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
MILLTOWN – The lights went dark in Milltown for two days earlier this month for a festival that brought stargazers to the Crawford County town.
The Milky Way Festival, a joint effort between the Louisville Astronomical Society, Crawford County Tourism and Cave Country Canoes, invited the public to view the Milky Way and other astronomical forms through telescopes brought by the LAS and other stargazing groups.
Sherri Nail, owner of Cave Country Canoes, said stargazers came from Louisville, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pennsylvania and parts of Indiana. The event drew at least one international visitor, from Peru.
“It was hard to count attendance because it was free and you didn’t need a ticket,” said Nail. “But for a first-year event, I was really pleased. We had about 150 the first night and 100 the second night.”
Finding dark skies for stargazing are getting harder to locate as light pollution – the proliferation of artificial light sources – spreads. Light pollution is worse in urban areas where the glow from street lights, traffic lights, vehicles, outdoor advertising and industrial and office properties create a glow that makes it difficult to view or photograph celestial objects.
A national map showing the best places for stargazing in the United States indicates the western half offers optimal viewing, but small towns like Milltown can offer a similar experience for those living in the Midwest.
Crawford County is located within a narrow band of dark sky, offering a rare view of the Milky Way. To enhance the experience, Duke Energy turned off the street lights and the new lighting on the Blue River bridge was turned off as well for the two nights.
Aaron Hellems, Louisville Astronomical Society board member and one of the event organizers, said Crawford County is one of the last areas in Indiana where light population hasn’t crept in. Light pollution maps of the United States show how much light pollution has grown, especially in the eastern half of the US.
“When that’s gone, there are no dark places left in our state,” Hellems said. “That means that some of the great things we can see in great detail will be gone.”
Hellems said the Milky Way Festival served as an introduction to the wonders above.
“A lot of folks haven’t seen the Milky Way, they don’t know how or where to look,” he said. “Ninety percent of us live in a place where it’s not visible to start with, so my thought was, if people saw it, they may be motivated to preserve their dark sky.”
“It’s really shocking the difference it makes when the sky is dark, the stars are so bright,” Nail said. “The people who came from cities like Chicago said this is the darkest place they’ve ever been to.”
In addition to the telescopes, a representative from International Dark Sky was on hand to share information on choosing lights that cause less light pollution.
Kaylee Gildersleeve, director of Crawford County Recreation and Tourism, was approached by Hellems about hosting a festival that would show off the county’s asset of dark skies.
From a tourism perspective, Gildersleeve said Crawford County’s dark skies can become an important asset.
“Seeing the response to the Milky Way Festival showed just how many people are willing to travel to a place with dark skies,” she said.
The partnership with LAS was a natural extension of LAS’ presence in the county. LAS has an observatory in Curby, and regularly holds activities at the James G. Baker Center for Astronomy.
The event was to take place at two locations, two weekends, but the Sycamore Springs viewing party was canceled because of rain from Hurricane Helene. Gildersleeve said plans are already underway for the 2025 Milky Way Festival.
More information about light sources that don’t cause light pollution can be found at darksky.org.