Eat a cricket this weekend

Visitors to Edelman Fossil Park & Museum can sample crickets, watch cockroaches race and meet live insects and arachnids during South Jersey GreenFest on Sept. 19-20.

The museum's first GreenFest

The Mantua Township museum is pairing bugs, fossils, citizen science and sustainability programming for the first time, built around biodiversity and ecosystems.

Studying the past for the future

Activities are framed around one idea: what we learn from deep time can shape decisions about the planet ahead.

World of Bugs, all weekend

The centerpiece runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and is included with museum admission. No separate ticket needed.

Bug walks and ancient invertebrates

Inside the program: live bug encounters, roach races, guided bug walks, specimen investigations, hands-on crafts and fossils of prehistoric invertebrates.

The Bug Chef cooks

Entomologist Zack Lemann, known as the "Bug Chef," leads insect-cooking demos and hands out samples.

“Entomologist and educator Zack Lemann, known as the "Bug Chef"”

Chocolate Chirp Cookies and more

The menu runs to cricket cookies, crispy Cajun crickets, red beans with poached caterpillar instead of rice, and fried dragonflies with mushrooms and Dijon-soy butter.

Count bugs for science

A free BioBlitz sends you across the grounds, gardens and Nature Trail to find and document plants, insects and animals. Rowan's Flight Club runs a bird edition Saturday noon to 4 p.m.

Free electric vehicle show

Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., local owners, dealerships and sustainability groups bring EVs, plus activities for kids.

Friday night, moths and the moon

The weekend opens Friday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. with entomologist Dan Duran, an after-dark hunt for moths and beetles, and telescope views of the moon. Free.