Insect activities, programs highlight Bug Day at state fair

MEDIA ADVISORY

August 14, 2009

Insect activities, programs highlight Bug Day at state fair

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Pioneer Our Land Pavilion at the 2009 Indiana State Fair will become bug-infested, so to speak, on Saturday (Aug. 15) as Purdue University's Department of Entomology showcases insects in activities and programs. Bug Day runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Fairgoers can view Indiana and exotic insects in display boxes; get close and personal with caterpillars, cockroaches, cicada killers, tropical millipedes and tarantulas; watch demonstrations of cooking with insects as food; touch and hold bugs in a petting zoo; meet Betty the Bee, the Purdue Bug Bowl mascot; and witness exciting cockroach races at Roachhill Downs.

In addition, visitors are invited to stop by the Purdue Extension exhibit "What's Bugging Belva?" The exhibit teaches children and adults about insects and their place in the ecosystem through the eyes of Belva the bug and her Grandpa Belvedere.

Tom Turpin, Purdue entomologist and Bug Bowl creator, is the Bug Day host.

For more information about Purdue Extension at the Indiana State Fair, visit https://www.ag.purdue.edu/extension/Documents/
2009PurdueExhibits.pdf or contact Steve Leer, Purdue Agricultural Communication, at 765-494-8415, sleer@purdue.edu

Writer: Steve Leer, 765-494-8415, sleer@purdue.edu

Source: Tom Turpin, 765-494-4568, turpin@purdue.edu

Ag Communications: (765) 494-8415;
Steve Leer, sleer@purdue.edu
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