The second Manassas Bee Festival will be held on Saturday, June 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Liberia House and Grounds at 8601 Portner Avenue in Manassas.
Speakers at the event will give presentations about planting native plants, responsible gardening, pollinators, the honey bees, and more. City Councilwoman Theresa Coates Ellis and the city’s Beautification Committee are organizing the event.
Festival organizers encourage people to dress like a pollinator, and attendees will see a costume parade, the waggle dance, a spelling bee, a new bluegrass band Wayne Fairfax and Friends, live beehive demonstrations, a mead garden, farm animals, wagon rides, and more.
An apiary installed last year at Liberia House has produced local honey that will be available for those who purchase an event t-shirt. All proceeds help fund the event to raise awareness to save and protect the pollinators, the bees.
To mark National Pollinator Week beginning June 20, Lawn Love ranked 2022’s Best States for Beekeeping, and it placed Virginia near the top of its list.
Virginia’s Rank in Some Key Metrics (1st = Best)
- Total Annual Colony Loss – 7th
- Average Annual Beekeeper Salary – 6th
- Number of CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) – 6th
- Number of Beekeepers Associations – 5th
To come up with the ranking, the firm looked at several metrics, such as total honey production, number of active bee colonies, beekeepers’ salaries, and honey suppliers. It also considered colony losses and whether the state protects honeybees from harmful neonics (synthetic insecticides).
