What’s the University of California, Davis, all about? Come find out on Picnic Day, April 17, the university’s annual open house, a celebration of Aggies, academics and animals — with a lot of fun and food thrown in.

Parking and admission are free. If the past is any indication, around 100,000 people will turn out for the parade (starting at 9:30 a.m.), entertainment and tours, a Multicultural Children’s Faire, and hundreds of exhibits and demonstrations, including “guess that smell” in Food Science and Technology, the Chemistry Club Magic Show and wine barrel making. A full program is available at http://picnicday.ucdavis.edu.

“If you just wander around, you’ll discover events you never thought you would enjoy,” said Monica Lindholm, the senior who is chairwoman of the Picnic Day board of directors.

With Lindholm and other students in charge, Picnic Day is believed to be the largest student-run festival in the country. The Associated Students of UC Davis present Picnic Day in collaboration with the university.

This year’s theme is “Carpe Davis: Seizing Opportunities,” a spin on carpe diem, “seize the day” in Latin. “The theme is a testament to the many opportunities on and around campus, and how UC Davis students are taking advantage of those opportunities,” Lindholm said.

Amid your wandering from one side of the expansive campus to the other, here is some of what you can take in: Body Expo-Inside Out (an interactive exhibit of anatomical dissections), a Fencing Club demonstration (they say Zorro has nothing on them!) and the Debate Club in action (arguing whether students should be required to wear helmets when riding bicycles on campus).

Academic events also include a climate change forum, geology talks and a moot court competition.

Picnic Day, in its 96th year, pays tribute to the campus’s origin as the University Farm, so, on that score, you can see plenty of farm animals, even try your hand at cow or goat milking.

But, as the university has grown into a leading biological research institution, so too has the array of animals, from microbes and algae, to nematodes and termites, to transgenic goats and, as a Picnic Day exhibit, a horse with painted-on muscles.

Not to mention dashing dogs (in the Doxie Derby); creepy, crawling critters (in cockroach races); and maggots making masterpieces!

While dachshunds race around The Pavilion at the ARC, people will be running in the Woody Wilson Classic at Toomey Field. This is a regularly scheduled collegiate track and field event with an added attraction for Picnic Day: Community Kids Races starting at 12:40 p.m., free of charge.

Music will dominate on Picnic Day’s five portable stages, with everything from student a cappella groups to the blues, rock ’n’ roll and Korean drumming. The entertainment lineup also includes the UC Davis Dance Team, tribal belly dancing and Danzantes del Alma.

The Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh will lead off the Picnic Day Parade, and take part later in the Battle of the Bands with marching units from other universities (2 to 10 p.m. at Lake Spafford, in the arboretum).

The Alumni/Parent Zone moves this year to the Vanderhoef Quad, bounded by the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, the new Conference Center and Graduate School of Management, and the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center, at the campus’s south entry (billed as the university’s new front door).

Food booths, many of them run by student organizations, will occupy the “other” Quad, offering ethnic dishes and traditional fair treats. Jose Orozco, director of the student organization fair, advises getting there early for food. “The majority of organizations sell out by 3 p.m.,” he warns.

3 P’s for April 17

Parade — Starts at 9:30 a.m. on North Quad Avenue

Parking — Free on campus

Program — http://picnicday.ucdavis.edu

Wine and dine

• Spring Vintage Aggies Wine Tasting — Hosted by the Cal Aggie Alumni Association. 6:30-8:30 p.m., at the new Hyatt Place hotel, behind the Conference Center and the Graduate School of Management at the east end of Old Davis Road. $15 for CAAA and Parent Association members, $20 for nonmembers. 21 and over, please.

• Pancake breakfast — Presented by the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, for alumni and their families and the general public. 7:30-9:30 a.m., Freeborn Hall. $10 for CAAA and Parent Association members, $15 for nonmembers, $8 for children under 12.

• Barbecue — Presented by the Resident Firefighter Alumni Association. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at the fire station, Kleiber Hall Drive. $5 for CAAA and Parent Association members, $7 for nonmembers.

About UC Davis

For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 32,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $600 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.