AUBURN - The young and the young at heart gathered for the Summer Children's Carnival Friday evening. The ninth such festival at Neighborhood House in Auburn centered on a Hug a Bug theme.

“This is the biggest crowd we've had,” Neighborhood House executive director Susan Jones said, estimating numbers at 300 or more.

The major annual fundraiser gives board members, staff and parents a chance to organize a fun event for children.

And the adults seemed to be having just as good a time.

Admission was free, but booths required different numbers of 25-cent tickets to play.

The popular cake booth displayed baked goods donated by parents, teachers, family members and a group of Auburn insurance professionals.

People eagerly plunked down a dollar's worth of tickets to see if their number came up on the dice.

Jennifer Star's Lady Bug cupcakes were so popular that people couldn't wait for dice to roll. They were buying them outright.

Jacob Mott, 4, won an artistic ant hill made of three layers with gummy worms, grass and flowers on it. It was his first try at the cake table.

Julie Sanders, of Auburn, won a fire truck butter cream cake on her first try. She was there with seven children, one of her own and the rest belonging to her sister and niece.

Katie McIntyre, of Auburn, won oatmeal raisin cookies. Her daughter, Tracy McDonald, works at the Neighborhood House.

Emma Anderson, an environmental educator at Baltimore Woods, explored bees with the children. She brought a video of a large hive of bees and showed children a display of different stages in the life cycle of honey bees.

“That's the queen bee,” she said, pointing to the largest honeybee. “Her purpose is to make babies. Females live a couple of years,” she said, “but male drones don't live past the summer. They are an added expense to winter over.”

Michele Barber, president of the Neighborhood House board of directors, was helping at the event. She said when the new building was constructed 1996, the board showed a lot of courage in taking out a mortgage.

“If they hadn't,” she said, “it wouldn't have been successful and 25 people wouldn't have jobs.”

Rich Monahan, 12, who attends East Middle School, was running the scoop-a-bug game.

For two tickets, children could rummage in a pond of plastic grass to pull out a bug or bracelet to keep or trade for other prizes.

Anthony O'Hara, 10, of Casey Park Elementary School, threw back the dung beetle he pulled out and picked out a “Night at the Museum” figure.

“My shift is over in 15 minutes,” Monahan said. “Then I'm going on that bouncy thing.”

A long line for face painting led to painter Juliet Mackin. For five tickets. Sam Gremli, from Owasco Elementary School, got a black widow spider on his right arm.

Jean Clark's twin daughters, Kaitlyn and Schuyler Redmond, were getting butterflies, and Clark, herself, had a green dinosaur cake sitting next to her that she won on her second try at the cake booth.

The lacrosse net, manned by recent Auburn High School varsity lacrosse players Mike Tesoro, Ryan Cuddy and Matt Clancy, drew lots of boys and girls. Arietta Scozzari, 5, put on gloves and helmet to try to hit cones or a hat with her lacrosse stick and ball.

Varsity lacrosse coach Steve Crosby supervised and helped hand out prizes - lanyards and stickers.

Besides the carnival, a rummage sale of used items was held, with many items costing less than $1.

A silent auction, run by volunteer Penny Lopez, included certificates from Maurice's, Cosentino Florist, free overnight stay at the Inn at the Finger Lakes, Applebees, Poppy's ice cream, Cameron's Bakery, Chili's, Seafood Express, Villano's, Elderberry Pond Restaurant, and lottery tickets from Me Old Man's New Stand.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net