This September 12th & 13th the Chestermere Country Fair celebrates 25 years. This year the fair will bee abuzz with activity as we focus on the importance of honeybees. Honeybees are no mere insects, they play a vital role in producing most of the food we eat and creating beautiful thriving neighbourhood gardens, trees, and flowers; but studies show they are not doing well. Honeybees have been dying and so local community groups are working hard to educate and rebuild healthy places for these important pollinators to live and thrive.
Groups like the Calgary and District Beekeepers Association are helping change attitudes towards honeybees and we are so pleased that they will be setting up an interactive booth at this year’s Chestermere Country Fair. With a number of presentations about honeybees, honey, and beekeeping, make sure to stop by to see live honeybees and meet a beekeeper! (Visit calgarybeekeepers.com)
At the Red Ribbon Contest, we will have a number of honey related competitions. Our expert judge will be judging honey competitions # 317-319 (See Red Ribbon Booklet) We will even have a baking competition for those who bake with honey, judged by our celebrity judge, Gwendolyn Richards (check out her blog! http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/author/gwendolynrichards/). To submit to the Red Ribbon Contest, find details and rules in this year’s Country Fair booklet available at the CRCA office, public library, or town hall.
There is a growing trend towards creating safe homes for honeybees in urban settings. Calgary gardens and yards, for example, are abuzz with life and flowers, and just this summer the City of Calgary put beehives on the roof of city hall. But if you’ve noticed that your garden and flowers in Chestermere have not done so well, it may not be the soil or your fertilizer, it may be the fact that Chestermere has old by-laws that keep honeybees outside city limits. This year we hope to change that through education and special attention to the kind of community we want to grow. Bee sure to stop by on September 13th in the curling rink at the bee display and sign the petition to allow some non-commercial, garden honeybee homes in our town – bringing pollinators back and doing our part to save the honeybee.
If you have any questions about the Chestermere Red Ribbon honey competition or bees in general, don’t hesitate to get in touch. preston@lakeridgecommunity.com
Hi, I am sorry that I could not visit you as we were away when the chestermere show was on. I live just outside the town and have 2 hives. Last year I had 1 hive but it did not make it through the winter.Do you have any advice on winterisiing my hives this fall. I have an unheated shed that i can put the hives in and I can insulate them with Styraphome,and or insulated tarps. Any advice or help would be much appreciated.
Bee happy Gordon