Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Share

St. Augustine mosquito museum mixes education with fun

It’s a first for the U.S., and Florida seems a fitting place for a museum dedicated to mosquitos

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The newest science museum on the First Coast is one of a kind in the United States.

It’s locally called the mosquito museum, although it’s actual name is the Disease Vector Education Center. 

It opened this month to the public in St. Augustine. 

The brand new interactive insect experience has games, microscopes, videos, a toddler area, and an working laboratory with actual skeeter scientists.

The highlight inside the museum might just be the helicopter inside the building.  It’s similar to the the kind used to spray for mosquitos.  Visitors can sit inside it and feel like they’re the pilot. A large screen in front of the chopper shows videos of local landscapes as if you’re flying over them.

The Anastasia Mosquito Control District is the taxpayer-supported organization that sprays for and researches mosquitoes in St. Johns County. It built this new museum off of State Road 16 in St. Augustine on EOC Drive.

Trish Becker is a museum volunteer, and she’s also an elected Anastasia Mosquito Control District Commissioner.

The commission she’s on received criticism for spending $4 million of taxpayer money to build the mosquito museum. 

Becker’s response was, “This is not just a museum. This is an educational center. And the whole purpose of the building is to follow the Florida statute that we run under.”

And she said part of that mandate is to educate.

“We want this to be a place where you come in, learn, and more importantly, have fun while you’re learning,” Becker said. “And to get people interested in these different industries. I mean, there’s a huge pilot shortage. There’s a scientist shortage. We need people in these fields.”

A group of children who just walked out of the museum, told First Coast News what they thought. 

“I think it was really fun,” one young boy said. 

Another said, “It was fun and there is a storm screen corn toss, like tossing beanbags.  It’s like what they put pesticides into the storm drains.”  That same child mentioned he learned mosquitos can spread malaria. 

Another child talked about the microscopes, the live bee colony (behind glass), and the collection of different insects.

Their mother told First Coast News, “It was a lot better than I thought.  We learned a lot.”

The Disease Vector Education Center will have free admission until July. 

For more information, click here. 

You may also like...