Riverside Insect Fair at Main Library

Riverside’s annual Insect Fair returns to the Main Library on Saturday, April 25, with free bug-themed activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (riversideca.gov) The event is set for the Riverside Main Library at 3900 Mission Inn Ave. in downtown Riverside, and city listings say it will include more than 50 vendors, live insects and hands-on exhibits. (riversideca.gov) Organizers also list cockroach races, library storytime, art activities with the Riverside Arts Council, and a workshop on starting a bug collection. (museumofriverside.org) The fair is built around entomology, the study of insects, and University of California, Riverside says visitors will be able to meet entomology graduate students and see how insect research connects to science education. (cnas.ucr.edu) That research base is local. UC Riverside says the fair was founded in 2015 by the university’s Entomology Graduate Student Association and the Riverside Metropolitan Museum, now the Museum of Riverside. (cnas.ucr.edu) The event has also drawn large crowds before. UC Riverside says attendance topped 15,000 in 2018 and 12,000 in 2019, making it one of the larger insect fairs in the Inland Empire. (cnas.ucr.edu) This year’s fair is part of Earth Month programming in Riverside, with the Wyland Foundation saying its mobile learning lab will be on site to tie insects to water, climate and ecosystems. (wylandfoundation.org) Event listings from the city and Museum of Riverside describe the fair as free and family-friendly, with accommodations available through the information booth during the event. (museumofriverside.org) For Riverside, the pitch is simple: spend six hours with beetles, butterflies and cockroaches downtown, then go home knowing a little more about the insects that share Southern California. (eventbrite.com)