Bug Fair Wows Bug Lovers

Arthropods and Friends Abound at Celebration of Everything Etymological

The crowd was abuzz at the 26^th Annual Bug Fair at the Los Angeles County’s Natural History Museum because 2012 is the Year of the Fly, adding extra excitement to the event which lures thousands each year for the two-day celebration of creepy crawly and winged things.

My four year-old son loved holding beetles, hissing cockroaches and other six-, eight- and million-legged creatures, and he even ate a few, including meal worms and crickets. It was a petting zoo of bugs, mostly harmless ones, though one deadly scorpion’s lair came with a disclaimer, “Touch at your own risk.”  The scene had something for every bug lover, with more than 70 exhibits, from collector displays, arts and crafts inspired by bugs, educational booths and even a cooking-with-bugs demonstration.

For those who have never attended, think of a convention with halls of stamp or coin collectors, all displaying their rare finds, but imagine their cases filled with bugs —   gigantic colorful butterflies, giant shiny beetles and plenty to hairy tarantulas.  Some of the bugs were for sale, though I refused to let my son bring home a tarantula, so we settled for a cousin, a harmless hermit crab from the nice folks at GBU Enterprises which showed off a fine array of bugs, exotic reptiles and invertebrates.

Of course, there were other types of “take-home,” if you so dared, including energy bars made with chocolate, and crickets.  Bug appetit!