A young child wearing a straw cowboy hat with a pink star, rainbow-striped sleeves, and flower-shaped sunglasses looks closely at a ladybug crawling on their hand during an outdoor event.
Thea, 3, looks at some ladybugs on her hand before releasing them in the garden.(Photo: Susan Fried)
Community

PHOTO ESSAY | A Festival of Ladybugs at Garfield Community Center

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On a beautiful warm Saturday, dozens of families showed up at Garfield Community Center for the third annual Ladybug Festival. The event honors the memory of Tracy Grant, a well-loved staff member at Garfield Community Center who passed away in 2021. She had spent hours cultivating the community center's garden.

The Ladybug Festival invites people of all ages to enjoy nature thriving in our own communities.

A woman and a young boy smile while crouching beside a garden bed in a park, holding a potted red flower and papers, with playground equipment and greenery visible in the background.
Marie and her son Randy, 8, joined dozens of other families for the third annual Ladybug Festival on April 26 at Garfield Community Center.(Photo: Susan Fried)
Two people wearing playful antenna headbands sit behind a table covered with trays of flowers and seedlings at an indoor gardening event.
Seattle Parks and Recreation Department and Jefferson Park employees Keri Frattini and Nick Hocking answered questions during the third annual Ladybug Festival at Garfield Community Center.(Photo: Susan Fried)

Seattle Parks and Recreation naturalist Nicolasa Hernandez, who helped lead the festival, said people often think of nature as being far away, in national parks or in the mountains, but we often forget about the beauty that's in our own backyards or in our neighborhoods, like the Garfield Community Center's own garden.

Attendees learned a lot about ladybugs, especially how they and other insects are beneficial to plants and people. Ladybugs love to eat aphids, mealybugs, mites, and other garden pests that can cause a lot of damage to plants, making them a wonderful organic way to control pests instead of using chemicals.

Close-up of multiple orange and red ladybugs crawling on bright green, textured leaves in a garden setting.
Ladybugs find a new home in the garden.(Photo: Susan Fried)
Group of adults and children participating in an outdoor educational event near a garden bed, with one woman holding insect identification sheets and a colorful “EAT” mural featuring fruits and vegetables displayed on a brick wall behind them.
Seattle Parks and Recreation naturalist Nicolasa Hernandez (center) explains the rules for a nature walk at the third annual Ladybug Festival.(Photo: Susan Fried)

At the festival, there were information tables, coloring and art activities, opportunities to examine flowers and other natural things with a magnifying glass, a nature walk where participants looked for different insects in the garden, and, finally, the release of the ladybugs, which Garfield Community Center assistant recreation coordinator Jennifer Romo obtained from Nature Good Guys on eBay. 

Seattle Parks Department nature guides poured small amounts of ladybugs into the outreached hands of children and their parents, who then placed them on the plants in the Garfield Community Center garden.

A group of children and adults gather outdoors around a woman in a blue shirt and hat labeled “LIZZY” as she shows something small in her hands; one child wears a yellow Pikachu hoodie and others eagerly look on or reach out.
Seattle Parks and Recreation urban nature guide Lizzie passes out ladybugs to families so they can release them into the Garfield Community Center garden.(Photo: Susan Fried)
Children gather around an adult in a blue shirt holding scissors and a paper packet, eagerly reaching out their hands to receive ladybugs to release.
A group of children gather around to get ladybugs to release in the garden.(Photo: Susan Fried)
Close-up of an adult gently guiding a young child’s hand as a small ladybug crawls on the child’s palm, capturing a moment of curiosity and connection with nature.
A mother pointing out the ladybug on her child's hand.(Photo: Susan Fried)

Martha, who brought two of her friends' children to the Ladybug Festival, loved that there were so many activities for the children to do. The location was perfect because of the playground and garden, as well as all the activities inside the community center. She said it was a great way to spend a couple of hours learning about nature and having fun.

Three young children crouch on a paved path beside a garden bed, using insect identification sheets and markers to observe and record bugs or plants during an outdoor educational activity.
Children check to see which bugs they still need to find during a nature walk through the Garfield Community Center garden.(Photo: Susan Fried)
A young child wearing a red heart-patterned sweater excitedly holds up a pink flower petal at a craft table, with an adult leaning over supportively behind them.
Summer, 3, plays with some flower petals during the third Annual Ladybug Festival at Garfield Community Center.(Photo: Susan Fried)
Two children sitting at a craft table indoors, smiling and showing off their hand-colored butterfly masks made from paper; one child holds their mask up to their face while the other poses with theirs.
Siblings Ellie, 7, and Sasha, 4, hold up butterfly masks they colored during the Ladybug Festival.(Photo: Susan Fried)

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