Penn State Live - Annual insect fair draws thousands

Annual insect fair draws thousands

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Caleb, a youth visitor to the Great Insect Fair in the Snider Agricultural Arena on Saturday, Oct. 3, grins as a large tarantula spider makes its way up his arm while his mother takes a picture on her cell phone at left. For more photos, click on the image above.

Photo by Andy Colwell Caleb, a youth visitor to the Great Insect Fair in the Snider Agricultural Arena on Saturday, Oct. 3, grins as a large tarantula spider makes its way up his arm while his mother takes a picture on her cell phone at left. For more photos, click on the image above.

University Park, Pa. -- Many tend to avoid insects and other many-legged creatures, but on Saturday, Oct. 3, thousands of insect-interested people swarmed to the Great Insect Fair held in the Snider Agricultural Arena for the sole purpose of holding, touching and learning about the world of entomology - the study of insects.

This year's theme, "Moth Madness," featured moth- and butterfly-related activities such as a butterfly tent, "Mothra vs. Batman" tag, a make-your-own-moth-mask activity, and monarch butterfly caterpillars and larvae for purchase. Visitors to the event were able to hold and touch many species of insects, arachnids and other such creatures, as well as race cockroaches, build their own paper butterflies and purchase insects of their own.

Now in its 16th year and organized by the College of Agricultural Sciences' Department of Entomology, the event ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and typically draws more than 6,000 visitors. This year, however, organizers predicted a turnout closer to 10,000 due to exceptional weather. For more information, visit http://agsci.psu.edu/insect-fair online.

For photos of the event, visit http://live.psu.edu/stilllife/2151 online