Courtesy of Mall of America
Even before the sun rose in Bloomington on Tuesday morning, more than 60,000 visitors were flitting into the Mall of America. Not human visitors—these were ladybugs, carefully shipped to the mall and ready to be released indoors as part of the shopping center’s earth-friendly gardening plans.
Dan Jasper is the senior vice president of press for Mall of America—though he calls himself the mall’s “storyteller.” “We’ve been bringing ladybugs to the mall for more than a decade,” Jasper says. “This is part of our DNA.”
Ladybugs eat aphids and other tiny pests, helping control their spread without the need for pesticides. By the time they disperse throughout the mall’s many acres of indoor space, visitors hardly notice them.
The ladybugs released on Tuesday are a specific breed, suited to taking care of the mall’s 30,000 plants and not an invasive species risk if they escape into the great outdoors. “We’ve had hundreds of people so far at the event this morning,” Jasper says, “and every one of those people has at least one or two ladybugs in their hair or on their clothes, so a few of them will get outside.”
This is the second year Mall of America has hosted an official ladybug release party that’s open to the public. Jasper says more than 1,000 people registered for the event—no small feat, since the ladybugs are brought out before 6 a.m. in order to beat the morning shopping crowds.
Guests of all ages lined up at a long table just inside the mall’s Nickelodeon Universe theme park, where mall staffers gently scooped handfuls of crawling, creeping, bright-orange ladybugs into red cups. After donning gloves (to help protect the bugs and the plants), visitors could wander the theme park—the space with some of the mall’s most dense greenery—and tap their cohort of aphid-eaters into the leaves of the shrubs, trees, and flowers. At first, the bugs clustered together, and a few ended up on the floor, where helpful youngsters ushered them back to the safety of the shrubbery.
Many of Tuesday’s ladybug releasers were young kids and their parents, but plenty of enthusiastic grownups showed up, too. James and Jason Gottfried arrived in bright ladybug-patterned shirts. They’d attended last year’s event and were excited to return. “We were here for quite a while last year, and it’s really cool to see a lot more people this year,” James says.
For some visitors, the event held deeper meaning. A local girl scout troop came to release ladybugs in honor of a member who recently passed away. And an elderly man was there in honor of his late wife, who loved ladybugs. “He came here with his friend to honor her,” Dan Jasper says. “We see this as a fun, educational opportunity, but for so many people, there’s also deeper meaning. It makes my heart warm, and that’s why I love working at the mall.”
Jasper notes that the ladybug release is just one of Mall of America’s many eco-conscious initiatives. “When the mall opened in 1992, we were green—and we were designed to be green before that term was even known,” he says. The mall has no central heating, but is warmed by the atria’s skylights, store lights, and body heat; 65% of waste is recycled; and food waste from the many eateries is given to a local farmer to use as animal feed. “We have 30,000 live plants, and not only do they make for a great atmosphere, but they release oxygen,” Jasper says. “This all makes sense from a business perspective, but mostly, it’s the right thing to do, and that’s why we do it.”
