Bug Bowl features creepy, crawly fun

Exponent file photo DON'T BUG ME: Participants will have the opportunity to hold many different kinds of insects at Bug Bowl this weekend.

By Megan Finnerty
Senior Writer

When he was in high school, Bug Bowl changed one graduate student's life. Luke Jacobus came to Purdue's annual celebration of insects several years ago and remembers that the weekend of insect festivities confirmed his dreams of becoming an entomology major at Purdue.

"It was that and I like insects," Jacobus said, laughing. "It was exciting to see other people who like insects too."

Bug Bowl is a carnival of buggy delights such as a cricket-spitting contest, an insect petting zoo and a bug buffet featuring mealworm stir-fry and chocolate-covered crickets.

Last year's attendance, nearly 30,000, set a record and Bug Bowl coordinator Jenny Franklin expects even more people to come to this year's educational, interactive weekend.

Jacobus will be helping with the observation zoo, which he loves doing because it affords him the opportunity to talk about the insects he loves so much.

The observation zoo, unlike the petting zoo, showcases insects that aren't good for human handling, such as tiny ones, aquatic ones or poisonous ones.

"People either hate insects or love them, but either way, they're interested," Jacobus said. "It's a fairly unique opportunity. It's a lot of fun and I still learn something new at Bug Bowl every year."

Franklin said this year there will be a new cricket-spitting field with carpet instead of grass, and, of course, the cricket-spitting world-record holder will be back.

The record, incidentally, is 32 feet 1.5 inches.

Also new this year, the students in Entomology 105, "Insects: Friends or Foe" will prepare the insects instead of having the entomology staff do the cooking, and a woman will be spinning silk from silk worms .

Dean Brad, a graduate student and a member of the Thomas Say Society, has been working with Jacobus for years at the Bug Bowl and said it's exciting to see the public's reaction to what he presents about bugs, either as entertainment or food.

Brad set up the roach hotel and butterfly house this year, but his favorite thing to do was paint the cockroaches for the roach races.

He uses enamel paint that doesn't hurt the bugs to create flames, flowers, camouflage and racing stripes.

Franklin said the petting zoo, roach races and cricket spitting are the most popular events.

"I definitely enjoy the roach races," she said. "People are the most grossed out with the cockroaches because they think of them as being a pest. But when people see them, especially the Madagascars in the tractor pull, and hold them, it changes their views."

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