High-quality events for families on a budget are hard to come by, but have no fear, Bug Bowl is here. Spring Fest is a Purdue event held every April that features activities and learning experiences on spring-themed topics, including plants, animals, insects, and more.
Fresh air and exercise after an Indiana winter would make even the dullest of outdoor events feel festive but this festival is a truly fun experience. It’s educational, entertaining, and filled with (mostly) pleasant surprises. Bug Bowl alone makes it worth attending. According to the Purdue Bug Bowl website, “over 30,000 people attend this event each year” making it “one of the largest insect festivals in the USA .”
Awesome Activities
To keep those kiddies happy, Spring Fest offers free face painting, craft tables, balloons, and snacks. There is also a insect art contest, kids can register for ahead of time. The tents and exhibits have tons of kid-friendly activities that parents will also enjoy. The entire list of events is pretty long, so her here are a few highlights.
Bugs, Bugs, and (you guessed it) Bugs
Smith Hall hosts a majority of the bug-related activities. Looking for a visual wonders? Cases filled with gorgeous (and grotesque) insects of all varieties will enrapture visitors of all ages. And don’t forget to look in on the glass bee hive, or the arthropod observation room. For a more hands-on experience (literally), visit the insect petting zoo. Have a sweet tooth? The honey tasting room was so popular this year, the hedge of people surrounding it looked like a human version of a bee hive.
Other live things…
If you prefer hairy and fuzzy more over creepy and crawly, plan a trip to the Boiler Barnyard for a chance to pet some adorable baby goats, lambs, pigs, and cows. If greenery is more your style, take a guided tours of the Lilly Greenhouse Complex to see beautiful and rare plants not native to North America.
Spring Shopping
You’ve done your spring cleaning, now it’s time to do your spring shopping. Take your pick from the cornucopia of bug-related items and garden greenery for sale. The dizzying array of flowers will make even the brownest of thumbs green. If walking into muggy tent spiced with the scent of tomato plants doesn’t make you dream of summer gardens and trips to the Lafayette’s farmer’s market, then nothing will. Before your cash is gone, stop by a food tent for a hotdog or hamburger lunch and, if you’re feeling brave, finish it off with a chocolate covered insect.
Cricket Spitting Contest
Think cricket spitting isn’t a real sport? Guess again. Not only does the Purdue Cricket Spitting Contest have a rulebook of what a sanctioned spit looks like, it even has a full time MC. When a man wearing a cowboy hat provides a frame-by-frame narration of contestants launching frozen insects with their mouth, then you know it’s a big deal. As for the rules, my personal favorite is the mandate that “The cricket must remain intact, and an official should check the spat cricket for six legs, four wings, and two antennae before the spit can be counted.”
Follow the rules or the cricket police will find you.
No pre-registration for the contest is required. Contestants are split into four categories: junior men and junior women for children and senior men and senior women categories for adults (14+). The top four winners in each category will be be awarded a ribbon. Wondering how far you need to got to be a winner? The top spitter for this year shot his cricket to the thirty foot mark, just three feet shy of last year’s top score.
Feelish squeamish at the thought of handling an icky insect? Don’t sweat it. The crickets are dead and frozen for sanitation purposes, so no worries about mad cricket disease.
Things to Know Before You Go
- Food tends to be of the fatty and fried variety, so health-conscious foodies and vegans may want to bring their own grub.
- The event is “wheel” friendly. There is a “parking” area for strollers, multiple sidewalks and any electrical cords that cross the sidewalks are covered, making the navigation of strollers and wheelchairs easy. The activity tents are setup on dirt, but that didn’t appear to pose any problems for wheeled vehicles.
- Download and/or print the event map before you arrive. It will look something like this.
- Prioritize if you would rather arrive early and beat the enormous lines for Smith Hall activities or go later and witness the cricket spit-off finals instead of just the preliminary rounds.
Next year’s Spring Fest is April 18th -19th. That gives you an entire year to perfect your cricket spitting technique.
The Penny Shopper 