Visiting Purdue University? Explore Greater Lafayette and all that the community has to offer, from the Columbian Park Zoo to Wolf Park!

Take a look at some of our best recommendations and start adding things to your to-do list: 

• Art Museum of Greater Lafayette: Stop by and check out changing exhibitions of featured artists, or permanent collections of 19th and 20th century American art with a focus on local and regional artists. Free admission. 
• Celery Bog Nature Area: Calling all nature lovers! The Celery Bog Nature Area is a great spot for bird-watching, finding unusual plants, and amphibious animals attracted to the wetland habitat. There are also exhibits, educational activities, and programs all year. 
• Columbian Park Zoo: Lafayette is home to its very own zoo! From foxes to pelicans to a butterfly garden, you’re sure to find something at the Columbian Park Zoo. Free admission. 
• Downtown Lafayette: Stroll down Downtown Lafayette’s Main Street for restaurants, shopping, galleries, museums, and more. 
• Exploration Acres: Visiting in the summer? Grab food from local vendors and stroll through the 10-acre sunflower field where you can pick your own blossoms. Visiting in the fall? Try your hand at the corn maze, pick out a pumpkin, or enjoy a hayride!
• Fort Ouiatenon: A fur trading post established in 1717 was one of the earliest settlements in what would become Indiana. Explore the replica blockhouse, picnic facilities, or schedule a tour. If you visit in the fall, you can also attend the annual Feast of the Hunters’ Moon. 
• Haan Mansion Museum of Art: Take a guided or self-guided tour through the Haan Museum of Indiana Art, featuring art from past and present regional artists, ornate rooms from the 1800s, a sculpture garden, and special exhibitions.
• Lafayette Aviators Minor League Baseball: Catch a baseball game in the newly renovated Loeb Stadium, home of the Aviators and Lafayette Jefferson High School. Take a look at the game schedule here. 
• Prophetstown State Park: With hiking and bicycle trails, camping, an aquatic center, and more, the fun doesn’t stop at Prophetstown! The Farm at Prophetstown, located in the State Park, gives visitors insight into farm life in the 1920s from gardening, baking, blacksmithing, animal care and more. The Farm has sheep, donkeys, horses, and more animals, and shows sustainable agriculture and farm-to-table cooking. 
• Tropicanoe Cove Water Park: Did you know that Lafayette has its own paradise right on Main Street? Tropicanoe Cove Water Park has a lazy river, water slides, pools, and decks to bask in the sun all day. 
• Wolf Park: Wolf Park is a research and education center that also offers a variety of programming for visitors, from tours, seminars, camps, and fun events like Howl Night, where you can howl with the wolves once the sun sets. 

Greater Lafayette is also home to a variety of annual events and festivals: 

• Taste of Tippecanoe (June): Get a taste of Tippecanoe County with this annual event that is fun for everyone! Sample food, music, and art from the community while enjoying live art experiences, activities, and fireworks. 
• OUTfest (Sep.): Lafayette’s annual pride festival is full of live entertainment, food, vendors, and family activities. 
• Global Fest (Sep.): This annual event brings together world cultures in a showcase of music, dance, crafts, free activities for children, and more – not to mention the delicious international food. 
• Feast of the Hunters’ Moon (Oct.): This annual event takes place at Fort Ouiatenon and is a re-creation and re-enactment of the annual French and Native American fall gathering taking place in the 18th century. 

Check out this calendar of upcoming events in Greater Lafayette before your visit to Purdue University to make sure you don’t miss out on the fun!