Antelope Island’s annual Spider Fest

ANTELOPE ISLAND — Every year the folks at Antelope Island State Park throw a party celebrating and spreading awareness about our web-weaving neighbors. They call it, Spider Fest!

Arachnophobia is a real deal, but Wendy Wilson, the Assistant Manager of Antelope Island State Park said that the spiders on Antelope Island aren’t anything to fear. 

“The spiders that are out here are western spotted orb weavers and orb weavers in general are not a spider of concern,” said Wilson

So if you were planning on checking out the beautiful sunsets on Antelope Island, rest assured that the spiders are not dangerous. 

What is Spider Fest?

“Spiders this time of year are the most visible and the most abundant that people will see,” said Wilson. 

What a great time to learn about them! 

Spider Fest aims to dispel any myths and to educate Utahns about the amazing arachnids that live among us. 

“They’re an important part of the ecosystem. And that the message that we want to share at the Spider Fest,” said Wilson, “We want to have a lot of fun, of course.”

At the Spider Fest, patrons can of course learn about spiders, but they can also go on in-person guided spider walks, go on guided e-bike spider tours, arts and crafts, photo contests, and spider poetry.

For the more adventurous ones who want to go and look for spiders, they can check out the spider scavenger hunts!

If you’re like most, but might want to face your own arachnophobia, check out the virtual scavenger hunt.