Bug Festival 2023

Bug Festival 2023 features the museum's scientists and researchers showing-off a huge variety of preserved (not alive) specimens from the museum's entomology (insect) collections, most of which are rarely exhibited to the public!

Displays also include live insects, fossil insects from the museum's paleontology collections (some of which you can view under a microscope), as well as preserved herpetology specimens, including preserved specimens of Virginia reptiles and amphibians that feast on insects...yummy!

Not to be outdone, the museum's mammalogy team will show-off a variety of preserved specimens of their own, highlighting some of the mammals that feast on invertebrates!

For the brave and adventurous, Bug Festival 2023 will feature a "Bug Tasting Table", in which - well - the name should speak for itself!

Bug Festival 2023 also features bug-themed crafts and activities for children, balloon animals, face painting, and food trucks! Be sure to stop by the Museum Store for bug-themed items available for purchase!

Learn more by visiting the Bug Festival 2023 webpage!