Luna Pier — Swarms of insects hatching from Lake Erie are descending upon this town of roughly 1,400 souls. The town turns its street lights off to avoid attracting any more bugs, but the flies still pile up on the buildings, cars, streetlights, stoplights, porches, houses, and the grass. Especially the grass.
This year they came late, most likely because of a cooler May, but now they are here and will keep coming until August. Mid-June was the busy season for the flies, but according to a librarian at the Rasey Memorial Branch Library, when it seems the flies are done, they come on stronger.
During mayfly season, residents stay off the grass to avoid the insects coating their clothes and try to keep their mouths closed while walking outdoors. But the children don’t see the bugs as a plague. They will bring them into the library, cupping them in their hands.
Adults aren’t so keen about the flies. After they die and pile up on the porch, yard, and driveway, residents blow them off. Hosing them off is unacceptable, according to Becky, a resident of Luna Pier. Water hitting the dead flies creates a sludge that smells like dead fish, which is why residents also refer to the bugs as “fishflies.” The worst time of year for Luna Pier is the day a rainstorm drenches the heaps of dead bugs around town. The street sweeper scrubs the roads, but little can be done with the smell.
The reason for the stockpiling of dead insects is the shortness of the fly’s life. Mayflies spend one to two years as larvae in Lake Erie before they hatch and live an adult life of two days at most. Sometimes they live only a few hours. They are born, and then they try to reproduce before they die. Hence, the mounds of bugs.
Even if you aren’t the sort of person who loses it every time you see creepy-crawly things, why would you want to live in Luna Pier?
There are always nuisances included with the places we call home. Some people take pride in Ann Arbor, even though the neighbors might yell at you for having more than no kids and cannabis clouds fill the air. Grayling is beautiful, yet there are lots of mosquitoes. At least mayflies don’t bite.
Residents of Luna Pier are proud of their pristine beach, kept clean despite Lake Erie’s murky water. People love to ride their golf carts, fish, use their library, and watch the sunrise. Luna Pier hosts its Freedom Festival on the first Saturday in July, offering live music, food trucks, garage sales, and fireworks. From May to October, there is a farmer’s market every Wednesday. Even with the annual plague, life goes on.
There is something the mayflies and the people of Luna Pier have in common. They both live out the time they’ve been given by eating, drinking, reproducing, and delighting in the lake. Thinking of a mayfly’s brief life makes one think of the brevity of one’s own life. Even if we get 85 years, everyone always says the same thing: Time flies.
The mayfly is here today and gone tomorrow, enjoying his life on Luna Pier and hopefully propagating offspring before he dies on top of a pile of his fellow insects.
So look to the mayfly, Michigander. Enjoy your town. Enjoy the lakes, the pine trees, the cities, the beer, and the people. You’re here today and gone tomorrow.
Noah Wing is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.
