The 5th Annual West Seattle Bee Festival was on Saturday, May 20th, 2017!
Thanks to all of you who joined us in the Bee Garden, in High Point Commons Park, and at Neighborhood House!
We hope you enjoyed the fun, interactive activities for kids; wonderful music and food; the Vendor Fair - and of course, seeing the bees and learning more about them!
Here's a recap of the day in photos and words. Enjoy!
It was a perfect, quiet, sunny morning when staff, volunteers and vendors arrived to set up for the festival!
Our first event, the Honey Run - an informal fun run in which runners and walkers of all ages and abilities do laps around the park - soon took off. It was lots of fun!
Music! Music! Music! DJ Peter Wright played world music in the park on this very bee-utiful day!
Parade preparations! Kids, pets and adults came to Neighborhood House for face painting, balloon art, bee antenna or paper flower hats!
The Kids & Pets Parade which followed was led by the Big Bee, who was accompanied by a drum and gong. This creative collaboration with the High Point Vietnamese community was inspired by the traditional Dragon Dance.
There were art and science activities!
Our Vendor Fair brought together vendors and organizations who focus on environmental sustainability, support bees or offer bee-related products, and/or provide resources to our community. Participants included:
The Plant Swap was back for its 2nd year, and is on its way to bee-coming a perennial favorite!
Pop-Up Sewing, a new event, focused on how to repair and repurpose textiles (to keep them out of landfills). Materials and tools were provided, free!
The Bee Hive Demo by Lauren and Krista lasted almost 45 minutes - as the weather and bees were cooperative and there were so many great questions!
In the Bee Garden, Puget Sound Beekeepers offered honey tasting and honey sales...until they ran out!
Also at the festival: Officer Jon Flores from the SW Police Precinct offered tours of their mobile precinct unit. Seattle Fire Department brought their ladder truck!
You can find coverage of this year's festival from the West Seattle Blog here, and their pre-festival overview here.
As well, a University of Washington grad student has created a multimedia website, The Buzz on Bees, which includes video and additional festival photos.
We hope to see you in May 2018 for our 6th Annual West Seattle Bee Festival!
Our first event, the Honey Run - an informal fun run in which runners and walkers of all ages and abilities do laps around the park - soon took off. It was lots of fun!
Music! Music! Music! DJ Peter Wright played world music in the park on this very bee-utiful day!
Parade preparations! Kids, pets and adults came to Neighborhood House for face painting, balloon art, bee antenna or paper flower hats!
The Kids & Pets Parade which followed was led by the Big Bee, who was accompanied by a drum and gong. This creative collaboration with the High Point Vietnamese community was inspired by the traditional Dragon Dance.
There were art and science activities!
- Artists Hosanna Tekle and Ellen Rivers created the bee costume materials for the parade, and later hosted creative art activities for kids.
- Anne Dold demonstrated how to build a mason bee house,
Our Vendor Fair brought together vendors and organizations who focus on environmental sustainability, support bees or offer bee-related products, and/or provide resources to our community. Participants included:
- Adytum Cellars & Valley View Farm
- Bedhead Fiber & Pollinator Project
- Bee Adventurous project at UW Bothell
- Camp Long
- Delridge Neighborhood Development Association (DNDA) - Camp Night Out program
- High Point Open Spaces Association – Night Out Block Party
- Hiveboxx
- Honey Bee Conservancy
- Moms Demand Action - BeSMART program
- Nature Consortium
- Nature Stewards/Weed Warriors
- Neighborcare Health - High Point Clinic
- Neighborhood House - High Point: Family Center
- Neighborhood House - High Point: STUDIO – STEM afterschool program
- Oasis Edible Naturescapes
- P-Patch Program, High Point Community Garden
- Puget Sound Beekeepers Association
- Puget Sound Puppers
- Rent Mason Bees
- ROAR (Roots of All Roads), with West Seattle Food Bank
- Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) - Family Self-Sufficiency Program
- Snooter-Doots
- Soulever Chocolates
- Tilth Alliance - Master Composter/Soil Builder program
- West Seattle Be Prepared
- West Seattle Block Watch Captain's Network
- West Seattle Timebank
- Youngstown Arts
The Plant Swap was back for its 2nd year, and is on its way to bee-coming a perennial favorite!
Pop-Up Sewing, a new event, focused on how to repair and repurpose textiles (to keep them out of landfills). Materials and tools were provided, free!
The Bee Hive Demo by Lauren and Krista lasted almost 45 minutes - as the weather and bees were cooperative and there were so many great questions!
In the Bee Garden, Puget Sound Beekeepers offered honey tasting and honey sales...until they ran out!
Also at the festival: Officer Jon Flores from the SW Police Precinct offered tours of their mobile precinct unit. Seattle Fire Department brought their ladder truck!
You can find coverage of this year's festival from the West Seattle Blog here, and their pre-festival overview here.
As well, a University of Washington grad student has created a multimedia website, The Buzz on Bees, which includes video and additional festival photos.
We hope to see you in May 2018 for our 6th Annual West Seattle Bee Festival!