NC Museum of Natural Science's BugFest 2023

BugFest, one of North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ most popular festivals, is returning to Downtown Raleigh on Saturday, September 16, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The festival will include both indoor and outdoor activities. Indoor activities will be located in the Nature Exploration Center (NEC) and Nature Research Center (NRC). Outdoor activities will be located along Jones Street, Edenton Street, and in the Bicentennial Plaza.

Fall is looking great around the Triangle, whether you’re looking for something spooky or totally kid-friendly! Check out our HUGE list of fall festivals, as well as our list of pumpkin patches, haunted trails and corn mazes! We have also put together a big list of Halloween events and Trick or Treat events!

The largest bug-centered event of its kind in the country, BugFest educates and engages the public in science and the natural world. Participate in more than 100 exhibits, crafts, games and activities as you interact with entomologists and other scientists while learning about the fascinating world of arthropods.

This year, BugFest spotlights spiders!

Exhibits and Activities at BugFest

Find the complete, updated list of events.

Arthropod Olympics
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Become an Arthropod Olympian! Participate in three events: Dung Ball Races, Ant Races and Bee Races and win a medal and all the glory a bug deserves!

Bug Bounce and Super Slide Inflatables
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
From hop to jump, kids will delight in bouncing like crickets and whooshing like dragonflies in the fabulous inflatables!

Stag Beetle Battles
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Jump into a stag beetle costume and enter the arena! When the battle begins, see if you can triumph over your friend and win the day!

Paint Savvy Face Painters
Paint Savvy
Paint Savvy provides elaborate but quick face painting and airbrush tattoos. Creative and custom work to meet the theme! Fee.

Bug Bites! Bite Them Before They Bite You! (5pm-7pm)
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Come join us for a meet-and-eat! See bugs cooked right before your eyes and sample some delicious buggy treats.

Café Insecta
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Celebrate entomophagy (bug eating) at Café Insecta! Sample bug-filled dishes prepared by local chefs and vote on your favorite dish! 10:30am-3pm (or while supplies last).

Protecting American Agriculture
USDA-APHIS
USDA-APHIS protects US fruits, vegetables, crops and environment from invasive insects. There will be lots of insect boxes for show, and tattoos and hand stamps for kids.

Franklin County Beekeeper’s Association
FCBA is a beekeeping club located in Franklin County.

Framed Insects and Jarred Butterfly Wings
The Artsy Arthropod
Take home a beautiful insect souvenir! Carefully curated insects are displayed in frames and jars and available for sale for your home or office.

Buzzing Hives: Unveiling the World of Beekeeping
Wake County Beekeepers Association
Step into the fascinating world of beekeeping and discover the secrets of these industrious pollinators. Explore this exhibit to learn about the art of beekeeping, witness the intricate process of honey production, and get up close to common tools such as bee suits, smokers, and hive frames, used by beekeepers to nurture and protect their buzzing companions.

Beekeeping and Honey Bee Education
5 County Beekeepers Association (5CBA)
The 5 County Beekeepers Association (5CBA) is a volunteer club that promotes beekeeping and honey bee education. They are a chapter of the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association.

Accessories featuring “Ñanduti” (spider web) from Paraguay
Erin Alicia Studio
Bug-themed handmade accessories like hair bows, headbands, hats, and hair clips will be available for sale as well as wall decorations. Some items feature “Ñanduti” (spider web), an art form from Paraguay.

Yes, They’re Real!
Stacy Lee Gallery
Insects, inverts & fish, oh my! Arthropod art like you’ve never seen, on painted backgrounds and coated in resin, so they last a lifetime.

Children’s Books
PaperPie
Fun buggy and science books from award-winning publishers Usborne and Kane Miller. Hands-on outdoor science kits from SmartLab Toys.

Caterpillarology
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Come see and learn about a variety of live, North Carolina-native caterpillars!

Master Gardener Volunteers Answer Home Gardening Questions
Extension Master Gardener Program
Master Gardener volunteers will answer home gardening and lawn questions and provide information to help homeowners have a healthy, enjoyable home landscape. Various materials on gardening will be available.

8-Limbed Martial Arts
Master Chang’s Martial Arts
Hands, feet, elbows, & knees! Learn how we use “8 limbs” for self defense!

BASF
BASF Corporation
BASF Presents — Protecting Crops, Health and Home. “At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future and are proud to be a part of BugFest. Visit our display to learn about our organization and enjoy our butterfly tent where you can visit up close with monarch butterflies, one of our charismatic native pollinators.”

Barn Spiders
Oberweis Dairy
Charlotte … the life of a barn spider!

Doodle Bugs Chalk Art
Paul Dumlao
Come see local artist Paul Dumlao create colorful, large-scale chalk renditions of spiders from around the world. Kids can take part and create their own chalk bug designs!

Bugs and Fire
North Carolina Prescribed Fire Council
Did you know some bugs need fire? Come see us to learn about how safely applied controlled burning can help North Carolina wildlife, bugs included!

Entomology Without Death
Vesal Cuts Paper
Entomology Without Death is a series of work created from 2D- and 3D-layered paper-cut art. Each piece is made from 1-100 layers of paper; special pieces can include up to 1000 pieces of paper.

Girl Scouts Explores Spiders
Girl Scouts — NC Coastal Pines
Girl scout staff or troop members will teach you about spiders!

What Is a Bug?
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Know your arthropods! Arthropods range from insects to crustaceans to arachnids and more! Come learn their differences and similarities and meet some live critters on your entomological quest!

Funky Bug Antenna Crowns
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Honor our buggy friends by dressing up like one! Make your very own Funky Bug Antenna Crown and proudly display your passion for arthropods!

Bed Bugs
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Enter if you dare-the world of bed bugs! Learn how these parasites have made humans their host!

There’s a Bug in My Soup
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
You are what you eat…so you might be a bug! Learn about the all the bugs that are allowed in everyday food products!

Spiders & More: Museum Collections 101
Naturalist Center, NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Come check out a variety of preserved specimens including spiders, scorpions, crabs and more spineless creatures from the Museum’s Non-molluscan Invertebrates Collection, and learn how and why these collections are important!

Insect Photography
Entomopixel
Presentation of insect macrophotography, and equipment used to obtain the photos in the laboratory and in the field.

Dragonfly Landing Adventure Books
Helen O’Reilly, Author
Adventure novels featuring insect and animal characters. Hanging insect habitats, insect prism suncatchers and insect fairy halos.

Weave a Web and High-Five Spiders!
Museum of Life and Science
The Museum will have live spiders for people to see and ask questions about as well as a spider craft activity.

The Fascinating World of Spider Diversity
Shaw University
Shaw will be displaying spiders from various phylogenetic groups and lifestyles to show how spiders differ from each other and live in many different ways.

NC State Arthropod Zoo
NCSU Entomology Graduate Student Association
Entomology graduate students from NC State will be showing off live arthropods and pinned specimens, and selling bug-themed merchandise.

Who Else Eats Your Food?
AgBiome
Welcome to the world of agricultural pests! Discover how AgBiome partners with the microbial world to develop biological products.

Termite Trails
North Carolina Entomological Society
Termites use smell to figure out where to go. Can you draw a trail that real live termites will follow?

Shimmering Dragonflies: Mixed Media Painting Demonstration
Stacy Lewis Studio
Stacy Lewis will be demonstrating mixed media techniques to create colorful, textured paintings of dragonflies and other artistic arthropods.

Unwelcome Houseguests
NCSU Entomology and Plant Pathology
Get up close with the bugs that bug us! Cockroaches and bed bugs are insects that have developed close associations with humans and our homes.
If you would like to see these insects that have become world-wide pests in human dwellings, come visit this exhibit and learn more about their biology and management.

Battling Beetles
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Delve into the violent world of large scarab beetles! Learn how males duke it out to win the favor of a female. Test your beetle ID skills at the beetle spinner game!

Understanding Entomology Protects All of us
Environmental Protection Agency
Learn to collect and pin insects like a scientist as EPA-RTP employees discuss entomology careers and ongoing research at the EPA!

Accessibility

Accessibility and Information
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
BugFest for everyone! The tent is where you’ll find courtesy manual wheelchairs, noise cancelling headphones, sighted guides, maps, event information and more.

Quiet Room
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
The quiet room is a place to escape the busyness and energy of the event. Come enjoy quiet play and take a break!
The quiet room is sponsored by the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation.

For more accessibility needs, including sighted guides, ASL interpreters, accessible restrooms, and more, please visit the accessibility page.