Bets placed, the race was about to start. Onlookers of all ages squeezed to the front of the track, rooting for their favorite Madagascar hissing cockroach. "Go purple!" "Go red!" Kids squealed when their roaches took the lead and a quick poke with a leaf or a finger prodded the ones who lagged behind or scurried the wrong way.

Roach races were just one of the attractions designed to teach children and their parents about insects at the 11th annual Insect-ival, held Saturday, September 23, 2006, at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.

This year, roaches raced around the plastic track—complete with turf infield, plastic spiders and miniature shrubbery—every half hour between 10 a.m. and noon. "They got pretty pooped by the end of the day," said volunteer Joe Williamson.

The idea behind Insect-ival evolved from discussions between staff at the Botanical Garden and faculty from UGA's department of entomology who wanted to do something fun and educational for the community.

"Because some [insects] are pests, they all tend to get bad press," said Ann Blum, who together with her husband Murray, a retired UGA entomologist, has helped develop the festival since the beginning. "[The Insect-ival] encourages a positive attitude toward insects by showing how fascinating they are and how beneficial and necessary they are to the environment and to humans."

Interactive exhibits and activity stations give kids a chance to look at mosquitoes and black fly larvae through microscopes, learn about insects' life cycles and anatomy, vote for the most invasive and destructive insect pests, hold caterpillars, beetles and tarantulas, and find food the way insects do—by using their sense of smell. In the past, the festival has also included the "Café Insecta," where visitors could eat "chirpy chippy cookies" made of chocolate chips and crickets baked by chef and former entomology graduate student Lou Kudon.

"My favorite part of Insect-ival is the participants," Blum said. "I love to watch a child tentatively petting or holding a hissing cockroach and then being pleased with his or her accomplishment."

The younger visitors can attend puppet shows created by Blum, make caterpillars out of pipe cleaners, create insects out of clay, and roam the Botanical Garden on an insect scavenger hunt.

But the highlight of the day for most visitors this year was the festival's first-ever butterfly release, in keeping with the theme "Focus on Flight." About 80 monarch butterflies fluttered into the sky, landing on trees, bushes and people before beginning their migration to Mexico. Pointed fingers and cries of "Look!" went into the air as the crowd spotted, and sometimes caught, the butterflies.

"I got to pet a monarch and it was really soft," said Darien, a little boy whose favorite part of Insect-ival actually turned out to be the roach races. But the orange, yellow and black butterflies captivated him, just like everyone else.

"We were worried it wouldn't happen," said local butterfly grower Jim Maudsley, "because it's so late in the monarch season and most of them have already flown south." The morning was also a little chilly and monarchs can't fly if their body temperature is below 86 degrees. Luckily for Insect-ival visitors, the weather was sunny and the butterflies warmed up enough to make their colorful flight.

"Whether it's love or hate, most people have strong feelings about insects and enjoy the opportunity to get up close and personal with these six-legged critters," said Anne Shenk, director of education at the Botanical Garden. "We hope that the multitude of Insect-ival activities, especially the opportunities to observe and hold live insects, help kids and adults alike appreciate the importance of these interesting creatures in their daily lives."

The Insectival is cosponsored by the Botantical Garden, UGA Entomology Department, the UGA Lund Student Club, and the Georgia Museum of Natural History.

—Amanda E. Swennes