2025 Spider Festival
August 15, 2025
Join us from 3:00 to 9:00 pm at the Antelope Island Marina for spider-themed presentations, crafts, guided walks, community science, face-painting, food and more to learn about these fascinating residents of Antelope Island and Utah!
Bookmark this page for quick access to all of the fun and exciting activities that will be available.
At Your Pace Activities and Offerings
Education and information tents, food, and guided walks will all be located within the park marina just after crossing the causeway.
In-Person Guided Spider Walks
In order to ensure a quality experience, all guided walks will be sign up only on the day of the event. You will find the sign up sheet at the main State Park Information Tent. Walks will take place once or twice every hour from 3:30pm PM to 8:00 PM and last about 45 minutes.
Photo Contest
We want to see your 2025 spider pictures! One of best ways to participate in Spider Fest before the day of the event is to go out and find some lovely arachnids and snap their picture. Submission details: Do not trap spiders. Observe and photograph them in their natural habitat; one spider photo per person; photo must by your own, original image taken in 2025; all qualifying photos will be displayed in Utah State Parks 2025 Spider Fest SmugMug Album; send photo submission with name and age of photographer, photo title, date taken, and location where the image was taken to Jparsonsbernstein@utah.gov.
*Note: Scientists and educators will be our judges, looking for your candid photos of spiders in their habitat. Photos will be judged on spider content, not pixel quality. Images from past Spider Fest Photo Contests can be found here.
Spider Crafts and Activities
Lots of fun spider crafts and activities from several of our partners will be available at the event in the marina.
Scavenger Hunts
Check out the various scavenger hunts linked below. Whether you want to come out to Antelope Island, visit one of our partner sites, or stay close to home, you can download the scavenger hunt (or hunts) of choice, and start searching!
- Scavenger Hunt (by Ogden Nature Center)
- Spider Scavenger Hunt (by Swaner EcoCenter)
iNaturalist Observation and BioBlitz!
During the week leading up to Spider Fest, you have the opportunity to participate in citizen science by participating in the State-wide Spider Fest BioBlitz and posting your observations to iNaturalist. Last year we made 464 observations of 69 different species. Let’s see if we can beat that! More information can be found at the following links:
Spider Fest T-Shirt
Once again we will have Spider Fest T-shirts available to purchase. The shirts will be available from the Antelope Island State Park Gift Shop beginning August 11th. We will also have shirts available on Friday the 15th at the State Park Info tent.
Virtual Presentations
Here are some great presentations, videos and resources from some of our partners. Some of these were recorded specifically for Spider Fest, others are just great information from these organizations. So if you are craving more, check these out!
Return of the Burrowing Spiders
Spider Silk Research at Utah State University
Other Educational Resources
Spider Photography: Safely and Ethically
What better way to preserve the memories of the spiders you discover than by taking their pictures? This Ethical Photography guide will help you capture those memories without harming the spiders, their webs or their habitats.
Antelope Island Spider Fest Spider Facts
The Value of Spiders
Orb Weaver Spiders
Cob Web Spiders
Funnel Weaver Spiders
Jumping and Stalking Spiders
Mimicry and Camouflaging Spiders
Spiders – General Info (USU)
Hobo Spiders (USU)
Common Spiders of Antelope Island State Park