Image Credit: Diana Velasquez-munoz
As a first year IAA faculty member, I gladly volunteered to help with Maryland Day. “Wherever you need me, just let me know,” I foolishly said.
So on the last Saturday in April, I made my way to Ag Avenue, passing the always popular free ice cream and fearless tree give aways. Then, I saw a large group of children and parents huddled around what I found out was a first ever event of its kind at Maryland Day. The IAA’S own insect aficionado Dr. Kevin Mathias came up with idea to conduct bug races. That’s right—Bess bugs to be exact, a member of the beetle family also known as a patent leather bug because of its black shiny shell.
I looked on with delight while kids gathered around a makeshift wooden race course watching Dr. Mathias carefully paint numbers on the backs of the dozen inch-long beetles. At post time, the bugs were carefully placed in the center of a drawn circle. The first one to make it past the circular finish line would be the winner. Race after race, children from ages 2 to 10 cheered for their favorite bug as it crawled closer and closer to victory. Then, Dr. Mathias invited me to join the fun and be responsible for starting the races.
While each race lasted less than 10 seconds, it took four times as long to round up the racers and corral them in the starting gate--a task that required touching each insect, which tickles your hand. Before long, the pint sized spectators were asking if they could hold their Bess buddies. Many of the boys and girls posed proudly with bug in hand as moms and dads snapped pictures. What impressed me most about this all was that the kids were having a heck of a good time during which no prizes were awarded and no recreational technology was involved. No new gizmos or gadgets, just old fashioned bugs were needed to have fun.
Even though there was so much to see and do at Maryland Day, most the of kids didn’t want to leave the IAA’s Bess Bug races. One little one started crying, “I want one as a pet,” as Mom picked him up and started to walk away. Although clearly her boy was bugging her, she asked me where could she get one? With Dr. Mathias nowhere in sight, I shrugged, “You could go searching through decayed tree bark which is their natural habitat, Or if you don’t want to go through all that trouble you might try Bess Buy”.
