Cicada Parade-a descends upon Vernon Hills

Rust-Oleum Corporation donated $3,000 to The Insect Asylum, a nonprofit vintage taxidermy and insect museum, to help fund the Cicada Parade-a in Chicago this summer. The Vernon Hills-based company became a Symphony of Cicadas Sponsor of the art project by creating 51 handcrafted plaster cicada sculptures to be hung all over the state to increase traffic to places of interest inspiring people to explore and connect while searching for the 18-inch cicada sculptures. As a part of the sponsorship, Rust-Oleum received six blank cicadas to paint, display and keep. Rust-Oleum’s summer interns took the challenge.

The interns completed painting their sculptures with Rust-Oleum Testors products and displayed them at the company headquarters.

Rust-Oleum is on a mission to empower customers to renew and beautify indoor and outdoor spaces. Sponsoring artists to complete these DIY art projects reinforces this mission and having the interns paint the company’s cicadas builds camaraderie and strengthens bonds between the group. Forty-two of the cicadas that Rust-Oleum sponsored will be auctioned off at The Insect Asylum Roof Top Garden Fundraiser to establish a rooftop garden to bring much-needed greenery to the neighborhood.