Each year, thousands of visitors flock to the bee barn at the Clark County Fair to spot the queen honey bee in a glass-enclosed hive.
The bee barn has been at the Clark County Fair for decades, making it a lasting tradition for generations and a challenge to spot the queen bee marked with a colored dot, which isn’t an easy task among the thousands of bees.
The bee barn is more than just a quick stop to spot the queen bee, however, but a fair destination to learn about the importance of pollinators to the area, how to help them and more.
Volunteer experts are available each year to answer questions, give demonstrations and more at the Clark County Fair Bee Barn. Anton Check along with John and Vanessa Lies were at the bee barn last week to educate and interact with visitors over their love of bees and other pollinators.
They talk to visitors to the bee barn about the interaction between bees and the environment, how they benefit humans’ day-to-day lives and also how to help the bee populations.
“They have pretty good education here, and I think that makes a big difference for when people come in that are hesitant and scared, assuming that they’re like a yellowjacket, and then they get to see them here and then talk to us and ask a few questions,” Vanessa Lies said. “And then they don’t seem to be as nervous, and a lot of people want to know what they can do to help by putting out water or what kind of plants they [can] use that will help bring bees into their area.”
As well, the bee barn offers seed packets of Northwest native plants and other beneficial, non-invasive flowers. The bee barn also includes charts, posters and other graphics highlighting the importance of pollinators.
Along with educating people and helping them reevaluate their negative opinion, the beekeepers association volunteers help grow the bee community through the fair.
“A couple of people that were amateur beekeepers said they were having some struggles, and so I was able to say, ‘come to the association. There’s people there that can help you and give you good information,’ ” Vanessa Lies said. “So, I think that helps amateurs that don’t really know where to go because they don’t know about us.”
Check added that in-person interaction is easier than researching beekeeping problems online or elsewhere.
“It is hard to read something or just pick up something,” Check said. “It’s easier if you hook up with a beekeeper and they can kind of mentor and show you what it looks like you did. In a book, it’s kind of meaningless, but you can actually point to that symptom or that thing happening in the hive [with a beekeeper].”
To learn more about the Clark County Beekeepers Association, visit ccbees.net, email them at clarkcountybee@yahoo.com or follow them on Facebook under the association’s name.
