We set up a booth at the Arizona Honey Bee Festival to spread the word about solitary bees and their role in pollination and maintaining the sustainability and diversity of our ecosystem.
The booth displayed basic solitary bee information and actual examples such as habitats (assembled and disassembled), solitary bee cocoons, data logging equipment, harvested materials from our Flagstaff Site4, and bee "houses".
Our booth attracted a steady stream of visitors: families with young children, teenagers on their own, educators such as K-12th grade teachers, Master Gardeners, new gardeners, and many couples; young, old and every thing in between. The November weather was perfect with a slight cloud cover turning into a warm, sunny Arizona November day.
Dave Hunter of Crown Bees graciously provided us with printed informative materials.
Thanks, Dave!
When the questions reached the limits of our knowledge, we directed people to the Crown Bees website where you can find many excellent tutorials and videos for free. In addition, you can buy any and all of the products (cocoons, habitats, starter kits and more) you need to get started in solitary bees.
We met a number of other presenters including representatives from the ASU Social Insect Research Group, The Urban Farm, The Butterfly Wonderland, and the local Absolutely Delightful Honey. The Urban Farm had previously interviewed Dave Hunter for their podcast.
We also held a raffle to support the Orchard Bee Association and La Mesa Homeless Ministries of Mesa. Thanks to generous donations from Fry's Grocery Stores, Einstein Bros Bagels and the A&P Nursery we raffled a 20 lbs frozen turkey, six gift cards for a free sandwich and a dwarf myrtle tree.
Congratulations to winners Lauren, Lea L and Jason. And thanks to all who donated to support these worthy causes.
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