Spiders, Centipedes, Scorpions To Invade RivCo, For Fun

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Downtown Riverside will be "bugged" in a big way Saturday.

The UC Riverside Department of Entomology, in partnership with the city, will stage the fifth annual Insect Fair outside the Riverside Metropolitan Museum, featuring an assortment of creepy crawlers for people to see, touch and possibly taste.

Several thousand people are expected to visit the exhibition, which will get underway about 10 a.m. on Mission Inn Avenue, between Lemon and Orange streets, and conclude at 4 p.m.

Insects considered parasites and pests, as well as others consumed as delicacies in some parts of the world, will be available for visitors to check out.

"Guests will experience the world of insects as they count the little critters through a microscope, learn about pollen as they play games and get the chance to enter a butterfly tent," city spokesman Phil Pitchford said.

Chef Robert Sevaly will demonstrate the ways insects end up on dinner tables, whipped up as culinary delights, while Andy Harkness, author and illustrator of "Bug Zoo," will share passages from his work and relate his experiences as a Disney Animation Studios artist.

UCR entomology students and professors will be available to answer questions -- and put visitors at ease amid giant stag beetles, bird-eating tarantulas, swallowtail butterflies, palm-sized grasshoppers, praying mantises, centipedes, scorpions and other insects.

Grade school students interested in pursuing science, technology, engineering and math -- STEM -- careers will be invited to participate in a variety of activities, Pitchford said.

More than 40 vendors will be on hand, selling books, treats, plants, extermination supplies and other items.

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— By City News Service