- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The UC Davis Picnic Day judges decided that the Department of Entomology and Nematology's Bug Doctor booth ("The Doctor Is In!") in front of Briggs Hall "best embodies the Picnic Day theme, "Heart of the Community." It won the "most community-oriented award."
"This year, the exhibits team had the opportunity to visit several exhibits, one of which was 'Bug Doctor,' wrote exhibits director Tammy Ng to Entomology Picnic Day coordinator Erin Donley. "As a team, we noticed that the 'Bug Doctor' exhibit attracted and engaged people of all ages. We believe that out of the 95 exhibits on Picnic Day 2015, 'Bug Doctor' best embodies the Picnic Day 2015 theme: 'Heart of Our Community.'"
The Bug Doctor is a traditional part of the department's UC Davis Picnic Day activities, which also include cockroach races, maggot art, honey tasting, bee observation hive, forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey's "Dr. Death booth," and displays of ants, bees, lady beetles, caterpillars, aquatic insects, mosquitoes and insect-collecting equipment. Traditional participants also include the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito Control District and the Fly Fishers of Davis. This year featured a new exhibit, the Pollinator Pavilion, coordinated by graduate student Rei Scampavia (separate story and photos pending). Thousands flocked through Briggs Hall.
At the Bohart Museum of Entomology, on Crocker Lane, the officials carried out the theme, "The Good, the Bad and the Bugly," with the displays centered on pollinators. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology at UC Davis, estimated a crowd of 4000 at the Bohart.