Central Illinois Bat Festival

Name: Central Illinois Bat Festival
Start: 2025-09-06T13:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-09-06T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Anita Purves Nature Center/ Crystal Lake Park

Schedule

Sat Sep 06 2025 at 01:30 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Anita Purves Nature Center/ Crystal Lake Park | Urbana, IL

Central IL Bat Festival - FREE!
2025 Theme: Heroes of the Night
Saturday, September 6, 2025
• 1-4:30pm: Anita Purves Nature Center (1505 N. Broadway Ave, Urbana IL)
• 5:30-8:00pm: Crystal Lake Park (206 W. Park St, Urbana IL)
Up for an adventure? The Central Illinois Bat Festival is back — and this time, we’re celebrating bats as the Heroes of the Night!
Join us at the second annual Central Illinois Bat Festival — a free two-part celebration of bats, science, and superpowers! Kicking off at 1pm at Anita Purves Nature Center, explore vendor booths, food trucks, kids art activities, face painting, and thrilling talks from top bat experts. Then, flap over to Crystal Lake Park at 5:30 kick things off with our SuperBat costume contest of epic proportions for all ages. Dress up as a bat, superhero, or supervillain, and bonus points if you create your own bat themed character!! And when the sun sets, witness a live demonstration of bats’ most famous superpower, echolocation, on a live bat acoustic walk to hear real bats hunting under the stars! Search Urbana Parks Bat Festival for more information!
Festival features:
- Science talks
- Face painting
- Games and crafts
- Community exhibitors
- Food trucks
- Story book readings
- Art contest (daytime)
- Costume contest (evening)
- Acoustic bat watching experience (evening)
SuperBat COSTUME CONTEST Details
Hosted by: BAT FACTORY
Dress as a bat, hero, villain, and bonus points if you create your own bat themed character!
No advance registration is required. Simply come dressed and ready to check-in.
Check in for the costume contest between 5:30 and 6:00pm at the Lakehouse deck in Crystal Lake Park. Contest starts at 6pm on the boat dock.
All ages are welcome to enter; judging will be held by age groupings via applause-o-meter for fun bat-themed prizes.
Questions? Reach out to David at [email protected]
For more information, visit https://www.urbanaparks.org/bat-festival