Along with the multiple bands, hundreds of vendors and family fun planned for Saturday's Honeybee Festival in LaFayette, Georgia, organizers are adding more opportunities to learn about the star of the show: the small, but crucial, honeybee.
The 2023 edition is the fifth Honeybee Festival. The event has grown since the inaugural festival in 2017, and organizers said they added more learning opportunities about bees to the free festival due to public demand.
"We had a lot of people interested in education," about bees and honey, Jim Powell, festival chairman, said in a phone call.
Honeybees are essential for the pollination of about 80% of all flowering plants, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. However, honeybees are threatened by invasive pests and the overuse of pesticides, according to Derick Forester, a third-generation beekeeper from Rising Fawn, Georgia, who owns Forester Farms Beekeeping Supplies in Rossville, Georgia.
More people are getting into the hobby, Forester said in a phone call, and honeybees need the support.
"It just keeps growing. I guess people are making themselves more aware of how much we need the bees," he said of his beekeeping supplies business.
The best way to get started beekeeping is to join a local club, Forester said. The clubs hold classes on beekeeping, as does his business, he said. The Honeybee Festival is a great way for people to learn more about honeybees and see if beekeeping is something they'd want to do, Forester said.
The Honeybee Festival's educational seminars will be from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at the historic Gordon Hall in LaFayette's Joe Stock Memorial Park (101 Wardlaw St. E.), Powell said. Seminar topics include a history of beekeeping, basic bee nutrition and the use of hive products for health.
(READ MORE: Honeybee Festival expected to draw thousands, aid in growth of LaFayette, Georgia)
Built in 1837 as the Chattooga Academy, Gordon Hall was one of the first school houses in Georgia, Powell said, so it's appropriate setting for bee and honey education.
Nearby, a bee observation hive and representatives from area beekeeping clubs will be stationed under a white tent from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The tent will be next to the Walker Rocks Stage on Main Street, north of Margaret Street, according to the festival's schedule.
People can search for beekeeping clubs at gabeekeeping.com, Gina Gallucci, president of the Georgia Beekeepers Association, said in a phone call.
Most clubs have a first-timers class early in the year to prepare beekeepers for the spring pollen and nectar available in April and May — what she calls the big honey flow. A resident of the Atlanta area, Gallucci said North Georgia's honey flow would come a little bit later in the season.
"We encourage you to just get your bees through the first year," Gallucci said. "They've got to build up enough honey, build up enough wax, build up enough population to survive through the honey flow and into the dearth," she said, referring to the time in the summer when fewer plants blooming.
It's important to get the proper equipment and be on the list for bees early in the year before the honey flow begins, Gallucci said.
Beekeepers are a lot like gardeners, she said: They are very willing to help new people learn.
Gallucci estimates an investment of from $600 to $700 is needed for protective equipment; wooden ware, which are frames where the bees build their colonies; and the bees themselves.
A beekeeper needs to devote an hour every five or six days in the spring and an hour every five or six days in the fall to their honeybee colonies, Gallucci said. Sometimes beekeepers have to supplement their bees' food supply to make sure they have enough to eat through the winter. Less time is needed in the winter and summer, she said.
Two bee colonies are recommended for beginners, Gallucci said, because one colony usually puts up more food than the other, and a beekeeper can switch out frames to help the less successful colony. Most bee boxes have from eight to 10 frames, she said.
"The bees themselves are just endlessly fascinating," Gallucci said about why she's a bee keeper. The community of beekeepers is fabulous too, she said.
Scientists are frequently revealing new understandings of bee behavior, she said, recommending a video called "Bees Say 'Oops' 'Sorry' 'Whoops,'" by a YouTube creator called Badass Homesteader.
The video looks at how honeybees communicate with each other while moving though the hive. Also, though a dance or waggle, the video said, bees also give directions to a food source once they return to the hive.
New at the festival this year is Honeybee Eve, a series of events on the Friday before the festival, Powell said. Live music and food and craft vendors will be at the Ross Abney Complex (101 First St.).
Also on Friday is the Miss Honeybee Beauty Pageant, featuring several categories for girls from birth to 16 years old, and a Queen Bee category for women over 50. The pageant will be at 5:30 p.m. at LaFayette High School (5178 Round Pond Road) and benefit LaFayette High School's cheerleading program.
On Saturday throughout downtown LaFayette, there will be about 260 vendors — about 50 more than in 2022, Powell said. There will also be a Kid's Zone, barbecue competition, a baking contest and cruise-in featuring unique sports cars, antique tractors and motorcycles at the festival.
About two dozen musical acts will play on four stages Saturday, according to the schedule, with music beginning at 3:30 p.m. Country musicians Drake Milligan at 8 p.m. and Matt Stell at 9:30 p.m. will close the show on the main stage.
Visit myhonebeefestival.com for more information. Also, every festival organizer and volunteer will be wearing a light green T-shirt with a QR code on the back, so anyone with a smartphone can scan the code and be taken to the festival's website.
With limited parking in downtown LaFayette, a shuttle service from the LaFayette Recreation Department, 638 S. Main St., will run every five to 10 minutes. The shuttle will drop off at Main Street and Napier Street, south of the festival.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.