Honey Sunday, an annual celebration of honeybees and beekeeping, will be held at Mosquito Hill Nature Center from 1 to 4 p.m. this Sunday, Sept. 18. The scenic nature center grounds provide the perfect setting for learning about honeybees and how honey is produced, and enjoying summer’s last hurrah.
“Honeybees are very popular insects, explained Mosquito Hill Director Mike Hibbard. “People are intensely curious about bees, wasps and other stinging insects, but it’s difficult to appreciate them when they’re troublesome during your picnic or ballgame. But if you like to eat, if you like to look at beautiful flowers, thank a honeybee, one of the most important pollinators of flowers and crop plants.”
Adults and children can observe or take part in many activities related to beekeeping and honey collection. Members of the Waupaca County Beekeepers’ Association, who co-sponsor this event, will be on hand to show the process of honey extraction, removing honey from the hive in preparation for bottling. Informational sessions will focus on what a beekeeper does and what’s inside a beehive, and the difference between bees and other stinging insects. Visitors will have the opportunity to peer inside a working beehive (safely enclosed in a screen tent), and to make their own beeswax candles and children can make a craft to take home.
A variety of honey made from different flowers will be available to sample and compare.
Delicious ice cream sundaes, topped with honey and bee pollen, will be for sale. Packaged honey, bee pollen, honey in the comb and a variety of homemade honey-baked goods will also be for sale.
The festivities will be held in and around the nature center’s interpretive building. The cost is $8 per car. For more information, call Mosquito Hill Nature Center at 920-779 6433 or log on to www.mosquitohill.com.
The center is located two miles east of New London off County Highway S at the end of Rogers Road.