No will judge you if your favorite insect is not the butterfly or an iridescent-shelled beetle. Both of the bugs have a lot of splash, a lot of kapow, and they're pretty darn easy to love.
But some adore ants, and that is nothing to be sniffed at. There's a beauty in ubiquity, and the ant's industrious nature, and you're more likely to walk out your front door right now and see a row of tiny, lined-up workers than a beautiful monarch fluttering over a lily.
The Natural History Museum's decision to crown the ant -- with a microscopically tiny crown, we imagine -- with the role of Queen Bee of the annual Bug Fair makes sense. The insects fascinate, perplex, and charm us in kid movies; why should we spend a weekend saluting all things antly?
And while ant's will get the lion's share of the love at the Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18 festival, other creepy-crawlies will have their own wee spotlights. Worms? Cockroaches? Bees? Yes to all that. There shall be high fives for a cornucopia of bugs. (Remember, when high-fiving with bugs, you'll need to high five a whole heck of a lot, what with the multiple legs and all.)
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"Antsy activities," displays, caterpillar hunts, citizen science, and the ever-popular, always semi-squidgy-of-stomach insect cooking demos are part of the Bug Fair.
Yeah, you're trying what the serve. Yeah, it'll probably be crunchy. Yeah, you'll brag for days.
It's the largest bug fair in North America -- honest ant, that's the truth -- so the crowds'll be, well. Ant-like, in some ways. "Traffic is expected to be busy," says the museum site, so cool your antennae.
Everyone loves bugs, or is at least fascinated by them, even the humble ant. We're happy that the sidewalk's most common denizen finally gets its big museum due.
