Sweet! Hawaii Honey Festival This Saturday

The Big Island Beekeepers Association will present the first-ever, statewide Hawaii Honey Festival on the Big Island this Saturday, Nov. 23, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The event includes the fourth annual Hawaii Honey Challenge, in which beekeepers offer their naturally produced, chemically free honeys in friendly competition with one another. Awards will be presented to participating apiaries for best liquid, comb and solid honeys in many different categories, including regional and type of flower from which nectar is gathered.

The popular “Peoples’ Choice Honey Tasting and Awards” will also be offered again this year, said a BIBA release. There will also also be entertainment, including Hawaiian and pop music and hula, honey for sale, other food and craft vendors and activities for adults and children.

The Nani Mau Gardens’ wide, paved and covered walkways and structures throughout 22 acres of tropical foliage will feature educational exhibits and demonstrations of the importance about the honey bee: how bees pollinate crops and make honey, how bees are kept by professional and hobbyist beekeepers throughout the state of Hawaii, and the new challenges that honey bees encounter in the face of introduced pests and parasites that have recently invaded the islands.

The First Annual Hawaii Honey Festival is made possible by a grant from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. For more information, visit www.bigislandbeekeepers.com.