Back in January, I spoke with the folks at Champaign County Forest Preserve District, Middle Fork, and the C-U Astronomical Society about their plans to pursue the designation from the International Dark-Sky Association, the authority on light pollution. Now, they’ve officially earned it after a long process of replacing lighting in the park to reduce the amount of light pollution. Middle Fork will be the first park in Illinois to become a Dark Sky Park.
There will be an official celebration this spring during International Dark Sky Week, March 31-April 6. You can also expect to see more collaboration between the CCFPD and CUAS to bring more star-gazing events to the park.
You can read more about the designation here.