“I’ve been calling it a ‘love letter to Comic-Con,'” says the Museum of Natural History’s Jeffrey Gray. “It’s things you would usually find in a museum but squeezed into one weekend of fun.” Running in conjunction with the Out of This World costume exhibit, seen all over your Facebook feed—“There has never been this kind of online interest in anything we’ve ever done”— Gus-Con is three days of lectures, demonstrations, tours and Gus celebrations, plus a costume gala on Saturday night. The idea is to infuse regular museum fare with a bit of sci-fi. “It’s one thing to see our curator of botany giving a talk about poison ivy,” says Gray, “but another to see our curator of botany giving a talk about poison ivy dressed as Poison Ivy.” The event is named after the museum’s most famous resident, who turns 90 this August. A book published by Nimbus—Gus the Gopher Tortoise Takes A Walk; author Erin Arsenault will sign copies on Sunday at 2:30—and a comic strip are among the Summer of Gus celebrations. “He’s doing great,” says Gray. “He’s out for his walk every day at 3:30.”
Friday June 1-Sunday June 3, Museum of Natural History, 1747 Summer Street, $29 pass/$19 gala, museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh
This article appears in May 31 – Jun 6, 2012.
