It all started in 2011 on the rooftop of farming company Brooklyn Grange in a partnership with local beekeepers. It was a true celebration of the local apiarists, honeybees and the honey we all buy and love. In 2017, Wilk Apiary took the helm of the NYC Honey Festival ~ and this year, the 9th Annual Honey Festival will be run by the newly formed Queens Beekepers Guild, Inc to be held on Saturday, September 14th.
Can’t wait till September 14th? Check out the Pollinator Party: Honey Tasting in Washington Square Park in celebration of National Honey Month! Wednesday, September 4th from 3:30 to 5:30pm.
The Day will be filled with activities beginning at 11am with the Bee Marketplace, which will remain open until 6pm; There will be a Honey Tasting Competition from Noon to 4:45pm. At 1:00pm, meet NYC Bee Cop, Darren Mays, who maintains more than 30,000 honeybees on the roof of the 104th precinct of the New York Police Department in Queens.
A Honey Extraction Demonstration will take place at 3:00pm, and the Honey Tasting Winner will be announced at 5:00pm.,
Best said by the folks at the NYC Honey Festival, “As honeybee populations decline worldwide, the very survival of our food production system is threatened. The canaries in our agricultural coal mine, Apis mellifera have so much to teach us about ecosystem survival and resilience. Their incredible hierarchy, astounding industriousness, and the exquisite crops they produce have been revered by humans since ancient times. We must act now to educate ourselves about this critical species and honor the inspiring contributions they make to the health of our struggling planet.”
Queens Beekeepers Guild, Inc., this year’s host, is a club set up to unify the community and beekeepers to support and educate about honeybees and other pollinators. All proceeds benefit the beekeeping club, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The 9th Annual New York City Honey Festival is taking place on Honey Bee Day, September 14th, at Beach 106th Street in Rockaway, Queens.
Follow the Honey Bee Festival on Twitter Facebook and Instagram
Did you know that five beehives have taken up residence in Madison Square Park?
You can take a walk on the largest green roof in New York City, also home to thousands of honeybees, for free at the Javits Center. Check out the Javits Center Live Bee Cam!
Bee-friendly New York City Rooftops can be found throughout our five boroughs, many are Hive-to-Table, like the New York Hilton Midtown. Some of the best-known beehives can also be found at Brooklyn Grange, Bryant Park, The Whitney Museum gifted its 50-pounds of honey produced to donors!
Battery City has what looks like small historic houses as beehives. Green-Wood Cemetery (take a “Beehive TourGreen-Wood”), and dozens of skyscrapers and hobbyists have registered hives with the New York City Department of Health.
A few years ago, MoMA opened its garden to Pierre Huyghe’s Untilled (Liegender Frauenakt), a concrete cast of a reclining nude woman by Swiss sculptor Max Weber, with her face covered by a massive beehive! The installation was overseen by beekeeper, Andrew Cote’, who visited the installation twice a day, keeping everything in check.
The Stinger Cocktail Bar & Kitchen in the InterContinental New York Times Square Hotel created a cocktail out of the honey from its beehives, and serves several dishes celebrating the hives, like truffled honey shrimp dumplings and honey grilled shrimp to name a few.
Want to get involved? Here are a few Events by New York City Beekeepers Association, including a Beekeeping 101 One-Day Course, or Host a Hive! Follow the New York City Beekeepers Association on Facebook.