The Bean Museum hosted a Halloween-themed Family Home Evening on Oct. 27.
The event included a spooky animals show, creature carts, balloon animals and prizes.
Tasia Smith, a Bean Museum educator, has worked at the museum for two years. She helped with the spooky animals show, showcasing some of the spookier animals of the animal kingdom.
“It's kind of showing how things are spooky, but try(ing) not to scare the kids too much because we want to always give them a good, realistic view of nature and not that it's going to hurt them,” Smith said.
Smith’s role during the show was to hold Rosie, a tarantula, for the visitors to see up close. She said that holding the tarantula is part of the interviewing process because employees do it often, just like during the show.
“We do lots of crazy stuff. We hold the bugs — I mean, tarantulas aren't bugs — but we hold our invertebrates,” Smith said.
She said the museum hosts events like the Halloween family night for the community to come. It also has an upcoming mystery dinner night where participants work to solve the murder of Mr. Bean, after whom the museum is named.
Samantha Rowberry, another Bean Museum educator, helped during the event by ensuring the other employees had the help and supplies that they needed, along with taking pictures for the event.
She said they are always trying to promote the museum and all the interesting things it has to offer.
“Our purpose as a museum is to inspire wonder for our planet, and to really respect and revere the creations of God, especially since we are a BYU museum,” Rowberry said.
Rowberry continued that the museum is free, and the Halloween family night was a good way of helping people know that they want them to come and visit.
Jessica Shepherd, a teacher in the Alpine School District, attended the event to see what it had to offer.
“I was a little bit distracted by the giraffes at the front,” Shepherd said. “Then I just found myself wandering.”
She hopes to bring her students to the museum because a lot of the curriculum she is teaching is focused on animals and their habitats.
Shepherd said she wants her students to “have more of a hands-on versus in-classroom only” experience.
The Bean Museum is open to everyone, offering many different programs for all ages.