Introducing — drumroll, please — the mosquito museum.
Conceived as an engaging way to teach people of all ages about insect-borne diseases, mosquitoes, and other pesky bugs, the Disease Vector Education Center and Science Museum in St. Augustine officially opened its doors to the public today. The grand opening of the roughly 6,000-square-foot museum, which features everything from interactive games about the Zika virus to an insect-themed outdoor playground, follows a five-year buildout to the tune of $4.5 million.
The project is the brainchild of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District (AMCD), an agency with a voter-elected board that works closely with local and state government to curb the spread of dangerous mosquito-borne illnesses and levies property taxes separate from the county.
"This Education Center will provide the residents and visitors of St. Johns County with the unique opportunity to learn about vector-borne diseases, mosquitoes and other insect biology, and mosquito control in a fun hands-on environment," AMCD's website reads.
"This Education Center will be a huge asset to our education and operation programs and will help us engage in a more interactive and fun way with the community," the site reads.
The site says the center will feature live insects, real microscopes, and interactive displays, including a flight simulator that allows visitors to go on a virtual mosquito spray mission in a helicopter.
While plans for the center have been buzzing for years, and it was originally scheduled to open as early as 2022, the opening was repeatedly delayed thanks to COVID-19.
It's reportedly the only museum of its kind in the United States. (There are at least two similar museums in China, which helped inspire the center in St. Augustine.)
"It literally brings tears to my eyes," Richard Weaver, business manager for the mosquito control district, told Jacksonville Today. "I’ve been working on it for so long, and to see kids enjoy it, it's awesome."
However, some county commissioners weren't always on board with the idea.
In 2021, members of the St. Johns Board of County Commissioners criticized the mosquito control district for "wasteful" spending on the project.
"To me, at first glance, this strikes me as wasteful and not something that we need right now," one commissioner said at the time.
But while another county commissioner, Henry Dean, previously said he couldn't see the justification for the expensive facility and had "serious questions" about the project, he recently told Jacksonville Today that he merely took issue with the idea of a “mosquito museum” — not necessarily an "education center."
"They actually do great work controlling the mosquito problem," Dean said of the district.
