By Megan Finnerty
and Kelly Lucas

More people passed through the doors of Entomology Hall in the first three hours of Saturday's Bug Bowl than did during the entire day last year.

According to Tom Turpin, founder of Bug Bowl ten years ago, on the first day they estimated that there were close to 30,000 visitors at Bug Bowl and that every parking space on campus was full.

"I think the turnout is wonderful," he said. "It's just about as good as we wanted it."

The event has grown exponentially in the last several years and has received international and national attention. In addition to local media and the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," a German film crew was on hand to collect footage for a documentary on roaches.

All 10 departments in the School of Agriculture were involved in Bug Bowl this year, and festivities were spread out from the front lawn of the Entomology Building and Memorial Mall to the front lawn of Lilly. Events were also held inside more than eight Purdue buildings on the South side of campus.

Bonita Gheaja, a visiting mother from Hobart, Ind., said the festivities at this year's Bug Bowl were bigger and better than those at Bug Bowl in 1991.

"I think they should change the name from Mother's Weekend to Pride of Purdue weekend," said Gheaja. "So many families were there and it has really grown into a family event. It was wonderful to see all the students and their displays. Everybody seemed so proud of their school."

Gheaja said the most memorable experience of this year's Bug Bowl was seeing her daughter spit a cricket in the cricket-spitting contest.

Part of Bug Bowl festivities is the idea of "Bugs as Food." With a glint in their eye and a bug in their stomach, many visitors to this tent sampled different ways to incorporate insects into their diet.

Jill Jankowski, a sophomore in the School of Science, came to Bug Bowl and ate a dry roasted cricket because she wanted to see what it was all about.

"It's gotten a lot of press outside of Purdue so I was curious, and I wanted to try a cricket."

She said it tasted like crunchy burnt popcorn and her dining companion who sampled the chocolate-covered one said his tasted like a Nestle Crunch Bar.

"I wish I'd gotten a chocolate-covered one, there's a little after taste there," she said with a laugh.

According to Andrew Nuss, a graduate student in Entomology and a roasted cricket vendor, preparing a cricket is quite easy.

"First we freeze them all to kill them, and then we dry roast them in the oven, take them out, and pull off the legs and wings," he said. "And then put them on toothpicks."

Although in the past crickets have been served with things like hot sauce and white chocolate, Nuss said that plain and milk chocolate-covered ones are the best.

Over at the mealworm stir-fry booth, Barry Pittendrigh, assistant professor of entomology, was serving up little samples of oriental mealworms. Dumping tan, lightly seasoned, wriggling mealworms onto a hot, oiled skillet, Pittendrigh explained the nutritional benefits in eating insects.

"They are high in protein and are low in fat," he said. "They are much more nutritious than both beef and pork. Do you want some?"

Many spectators, lured over to the booth by the smell of stir-fry, were surprised to see the worms jump and pop on the scalding skillet, but weren't deterred as they watched their meal fry to death. Many said although spicy, the dish was good.

Michelle Griesi and Nancy Hanks were Bug MCs at the Bug Bowl on Sunday in front of the Entomology Building. They played "bug music" — any songs performed by bands with bugs in their names or songs with bugs in their titles — told bug jokes, and danced in the grass as they hosted a children's dance contest.

Griesi said, "Last year we were in entomology and we did this as a class project and we had so much fun that we volunteered to do it again."

Hanks said she did it because she thinks talking to the little kids is the best part.

"They always want to talk on the PA system; they thinks it's really fun and they are funny to watch," she said.

Some of those little kids found themselves getting lost in the maze in front of Lilly Hall.

Mickey Posthaver, a 9-year-old and a resident of Purdue Village, said, "The maze was fun because there were lots of places to get stuck and it was kind of hard to get out."

In addition to the Bug Bowl, the department of animal sciences hosted "Boiler Barnyard" which featured a petting zoo of lambs and ewes, chicks, swine and piglets, horses, beef heifers and dairy cows.

"I think it's really neat to see all the families and kids who live on farms as well as kids who don't live on farms come out and see what agriculture is all about," said Elizabeth Adams, a freshman in the School of Agriculture.

Laura Puzey, a senior in the School of Agriculture and an Animal Science Ambassador, was in charge of the lamb and ewe display.

Puzey, as she held a lamb, said, "The turnout is wonderful; I think the good weather has helped. It keeps getting bigger year after year."