The Big Blue Bug

The Big Blue Bug, also known as Nibbles Woodaway, is the giant termite mascot of Big Blue Bug Solutions, located along I-95 in Providence, Rhode Island. The Bug is 928 times the size of an actual termite, standing at 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and 58 feet (17 m) long, and weighing 4,000 pounds (1800 kg). It was constructed over a four-day period from wire mesh and fiberglass in late 1980 at a cost of $20,000.  The Bug was originally painted purple (the color of an actual swarming termite when observed under a microscope), but the paint soon faded to a pale blue and the landmark became so well known in that condition that it was never repainted purple. The Bug has made numerous media appearances, including the film Dumb and Dumber, the television programs The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show, and Family Guy, the comic strips Zippy the Pinhead and Bosquet, and the books Providence by Geoffrey Wolff, Roadside America by Mike Wilkins, Ken Smith and Doug Kirby, and Weird New England by Joseph Citro.The Bug was originally known only as the "Big Blue Bug," a name coined by Providence traffic reporter Mike Sheridan, until it received the name Nibbles Woodaway in a contest in 1990. Geraldine Perry of Tiverton, Rhode Island submitted the winning name.