Honey Bee Harvest Festival educates and entertains

Saturday was sunny, with few clouds in the sky, little to no breeze and full of camaraderie. For the Second Annual Honeybee Harvest Festival, Second Avenue and Cottonwood Square were crowded with vendors and pedestrians, all there to celebrate and learn about bees.

Bees are central to the food we eat and the natural environment all around. The Second Annual Honeybee Harvest Festival showcases all the bees’ contributions to the world in an event with a fun, family-friendly atmosphere.

“It’s been really, really beautiful,” said Butterfly Pavilion employee Olivia Seavers. “There’s a lot of really awesome family events. I was surprised at the variety of products we have available. It’s been an awesome steady flow all day.”

Notably, the Butterfly Pavilion isn’t limited to expertise in butterflies, but includes many insects, particularly pollinators. Their table at the festival had a number of pamphlets highlighting their various projects and advertising both their pollinator services and classes.

It’s this additional piece of education that makes Niwot’s bee festival so special. Not only are vendors passionate about bees, but there are many opportunities to learn about how the insects contribute to the environment.

Some of this education was presented by during a speaker series named in honor of the late Tom Theobald, a long-time Niwot resident who spoke at the inaugural event last year. Many of the street vendors had information to share too.

“I think the biggest misconception is that the honey bee is aggressive, and they’re not,” said Kristy Martinez, who is a member of the Boulder County Beekeepers’ Association (BCBA). “The honeybee only defends herself or the queen, so she will never just go after somebody.”

Martinez became involved in beekeeping after taking a class through BCBA. Since then, she’s been hooked. For her, it becomes a sort of meditative experience, working with the bees and listening to them. It’s also a special experience for her because she feels inspired by their selflessness and sense of community. It’s this sense of community that drew her to BCBA in the first place.

“We depend on each other and we like the metaphor of the beehive, where everybody has a job, everybody’s working hard for the common goal,” she said.

It seemed as though each of the vendors had a sense of a common goal: working toward the maintenance and improvement of bees in the area.

At the Bee Squared table, Beth Conrey talked about the “five p’s” that are endangering bees: poor forage, pesticides, pests (such as the varroa mite), pathogens and politics. Bees are “important little things” but we’re still losing 35% of the bee population, explained Conrey.

“Plant flowers, don’t spray them,” she said. “It’s been a great thing to heighten awareness of the benefit of insects, and most insects are not bad insects.”

Poor forage is one of the biggest issues facing bees, and multiple experts raised this concern. Sue Anderson, a founder of the People & Pollinators Action Network (PPAN) echoed Conrey’s sentiment.

“Pollinator health is in trouble,” she said. “Part of it is chemical toxins and pesticides, part of it is climate change and part of it is habitat loss. The more we replace native plants and trees with green grass and development, the less food there is.”

She and others founded PPAN about seven years ago largely because the Pesticide Applicators’ Act was up for review and she and her colleagues had many concerns about “the impact of pesticides on pollinators.” Now, the group works at many levels, including with local government and educating the community about how to help these creatures.

PPAN again highlights the interconnectedness not only of the apiary community, but also of the environmental and conservationist communities in general. Conrey, for example, is on the board of directors along with Anderson, and other members of the board include college professors, and members of groups such as the Sierra Club and WILD Foundation.

The Honeybee Harvest Festival is very much inspired by the community atmosphere of those who love the bees themselves; and it was clear that individuals like Anderson, Conrey and Martinez were excited that the Niwot community wanted to support them. Anderson noted how excited she was that children were attending the festival and already knew a lot about pollinators, encouraging schools to continue that education.

In addition to the copious opportunities for learning, there were many other bee-related activities and goods for festival-goers to enjoy.

“[The turnout has] been good, this is the first event we’ve ever done. We’re happy, we’re having fun,” said Lina, founder of Beelight Colorado. Lina was previously a yoga instructor, who, during the pandemic became interested in making candles and found a passion for pure beeswax candles.

The vendors and family activities were definitely favorites of the crowds. Activities including crafts, face painting and a Queen Bee guide all seemed to draw the most attention. Both Inkberry Books and The Wandering Jellyfish Bookshop had storytimes, DRF Real Estate had bee-swag for children, and many restaurants had bee-themed menus.

“The history of Niwot and honey is very, very deep,” Martinez said. “[Bees are] hyper-local, this is us, we’re Niwot people and having this here is huge. It’s one other example of how Niwot is so unique and so aware of how we depend on each other.”