The Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society's newly rebranded annual festival runs this Saturday at St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda — 30+ vendors, three research talks, free admission, and free parking.

The Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society is running its newly rebranded annual event — the Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Festival — this Saturday, June 13, at St. Joseph Notre Dame High School, 1011 Chestnut St., Alameda. The plant sale in the courtyard runs noon to 5pm; the Expo Hall runs noon to 4pm. Admission is free, no registration or tickets needed. Parking is free on-site (enter via Chestnut St., exit via Lafayette St.).

The name change matters: the event drops the "Annual Show and Sale" framing it's carried since BACPS formally incorporated in 1992, relaunching as a full-scale public festival. BACPS bills it as the largest carnivorous plant festival in the country, and the vendor count backs that up — 30+ booths confirmed, including California Carnivores, Carnivero, The Trappery, Ev & Em Carnivorium, Rare Plant Catalog, and a dozen-plus others carrying everything from beginner-friendly flytraps to rare Nepenthes specimens sourced from Indonesian peaks. The SF Microscopical Society will have microscopes set up so you can get uncomfortably close to whatever's on the tables. Free face painting and henna artists (Anji and Julia — tips appreciated) are there for the family contingent. Raffle drawings at 12:40pm, 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm; tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. Top prize: a UC Botanical Garden Family Plus membership.

Three plant talks run in Classroom 1 starting at 1:20pm. Kat Bunana covers Pinguicula pollination with live crossing demos — bring a flowering ping if you have one. Jaehan Bae follows at 2:20pm with field findings on Nepenthes diabolica complexes from 30+ peaks across Indonesia and Malaysia. Noah Juve closes at 3:20pm on a newly documented pollination mechanism in Drosera actinioides from 2026 Australian fieldwork. The first two talks stream on Zoom; the link is posted on the BACPS Instagram and Facebook group.

Alameda has no BART. AC Transit runs connections from Oakland BART stations, but free on-site parking makes driving the practical call for most people. The ferry from SF Ferry Building to Alameda Main Street Terminal lands you about two miles from the venue — scenic but a hike.

If you only have two hours, arrive by 1:30pm: walk the plant sale, then catch Jaehan Bae's talk at 2:20pm (the most research-dense of the three). Be in the courtyard by 4pm if you bought raffle tickets — the People's Choice winner is announced then and you must be present to claim.