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RI may be the smallest state, but we have the world’s largest Big Blue Bug

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Traveling across America, you can find more than one town claiming the “World’s Largest Fire Hydrant” or the “World’s Largest Egg.”

But only Rhode Island claims to have the “World’s Largest Big Blue Bug,” according to Batchgeo, which recently mapped all the roadside attractions claiming to be the “world’s largest.”

The Big Blue Bug is also sometimes described as the world’s largest artificial bug, and doesn’t seem to have any competition in that category, either. It’s the only roadside attraction in Rhode Island that made it onto the list.

How the Big Blue Bug was created

If you’ve lived in Rhode Island for more than two minutes, you probably know the Big Blue Bug’s basic biography: His name is Nibbles Woodaway, he’s a termite, he measures 58 feet long and weighs about 4,000 pounds, he overlooks Interstate 95 in Providence, and he likes to dress up for holidays.

You probably also know that he was created as an advertisement for New England Pest Control, which proved so successful that the company later rebranded as Big Blue Bug Solutions.

In 2012, Providence Journal columnist Mark Patinkin recounted the full story:

New England Pest Control was founded in 1935 and originally located on Valley Street in Olneyville. In 1979, the company’s founder, Leonard Goldman, and his son, Steve Goldman, decided to move to a building next to I-95 so that they could put up a billboard.

But there were already billboards all along the highway, and theirs risked blending in and being overlooked.

“Is there something we can do that’ll make us stand out?” Steve Goldman asked. “What about a replica of a bug?”

The job of creating the Big Blue Bug fell to George Cardono, who handled advertising for the company and was also an artist. Instantly enthusiastic about the idea, he studied termites under a microscope to make sure the replica would be realistic.

The Big Blue Bug cost $30,000 to make, the company told Patinkin.

The Big Blue Bug: An unlikely icon

Goldman worried about the giant termite being considered an eyesore, but he immediately got phone calls from people telling him that they loved it, he told The Journal in 2012.

“It has done more for me and this business than I could have ever imagined,” he said.

It soon became an icon: At least one couple was married beneath it, Goldman said in 2012, and one fan has it tattooed on her leg. It’s been featured in movies like “Dumb and Dumber” and drawn fans from as far as Europe.

When it was removed in 2002 so it could be refinished with a new coat of enamel, the company got hundreds of calls from concerned drivers. Some said that without the Big Blue Bug to guide them, they’d missed the turn for Cape Cod.

The Big Blue Bug is best viewed from the highway, as it sits on a rooftop and requires a ladder to reach – a strategy aimed at deterring graffiti artists and vandals.

The good news: It’s considered hurricane-proof. The Big Blue Bug is made of heavy-duty fiberglass and steel, and its legs are attached to the building’s support girders, which go all the way down to the foundation.

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