Ants go marching: Art City bug parade marches through West Broadway

The ants marched through West Broadway for the Art City Mega Bug March on Saturday afternoon.

Up to 600 people took part in the parade, which showcased the creativity of kids in Winnipeg who have been working on bug sculptures, floats and costumes for the past month.

"We really take the ideas and the concepts that the kids come up with," said Josh Ruth, managing director of Art City.

"They sketch, that's the first stage, and then we slowly begin to build everything in three dimensions."

The parade was inspired by flipping the scales between insects and humans. Through art projects, the kids studied entomology while exploring a new perspective on the relationship with nature.

There was an army of ants, with kids wearing paper maché helmets and Chinese lanterns for hindquarters. There was also a giant Slurpee cup surrounded by hornets.

"It's a really a cool opportunity to show kids how far their creativity can go. As a metaphor it's a great symbol for life," Ruth said.

Art City is a not-for-profit community art centre which gives kids a chance to participate in free art programming. Ruth said the parade gives them a chance to "take the magic that happens inside Art City and blast it out into the streets of the community."

"There [are] not as many opportunities for young people to explore the arts especially in low income neighbourhoods where people can't afford the kind of high quality art programming that we do every day," Ruth said.

"So we feel that it's just really important to break down all barriers."

Ruth added that people were encouraged to take part in the parade by getting their face painted and even helping to carry some of the floats.

People gathered at Art City at Broadway and Young Street at 1 p.m. and the parade began at 2 p.m.