Each September, Bonita & Dan Conlon invite friends and customers to the annual Warm Colors Honey Festival. We began this event in 2001 as a way to celebrate the importance of the honeybee, pollinators’, introduce beekeeping to non-bee people, and offer tastings of our new honey crop.
Visitors can taste honey, sample mead (Green River Ambrosia, Greenfield, MA.), purchase honey & ice cream cones (made by Flayvors of Cook’s Farm, Hadley, MA.), explore our eighty acre apiary, and enjoy our presentations. Beekeepers and staff are available to answer all your bee questions. This is a rain or shine event (no rain date) so dress for the weather.
Date: September 16th, 2017 – Saturday
Time: 10:00AM – 4:00PM – come for a short visit, or stay all day.
Cost: Free – no admission fee. Products are available for purchase. All products contain Warm Colors honey or beeswax.
Schedule:
10:00 – 10:30AM – Welcome &
- Honey sampling at the Warm Colors tent.
- Mead sampling at the Green River Ambrosia tent.
- Honey Ice Cream cones for sale under the umbrella.
10:30 – 11:30AM – “Managing Russian Honeybees” Dan Conlon (President of the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association & owner of Warm Colors Apiary) will talk about the characteristics of the Russian honeybee and offer tips on best methods of management. Warm Colors Apiary is the only apiary in the Northeast certified by the RHBA & USDA to raise selected Russian Queens. Appropriate for beekeepers & non-beekeepers.
12:00 noon – 1:00PM – “Cooking with Honey” Pamela Adams (Pastry Chef / University of Massachusetts) will talk about cooking with honey, and will share recipes and samples with our guests. Pamela has won national awards for her recipes, and helped earn UMass it’s second year of being recognized for having the best University food by the Princeton Review
1:00 – 2:00PM – “Plants that Feed Pollinators” Marian & Ed Symanski will introduce you to the world of flowers and pollinators. Flowering plants produce nectar & pollen that feeds millions of pollinators. Pollinators increase fertilization in the plants resulting in fruits, nuts and vegetables that feed countless species, including humans. Marian and Ed will share their knowledge & collection of pollinator plant pictures. This is an excellent presentation for beekeepers and gardeners looking for plants that attract and feed pollinators.
2:00 – 3:00PM – “State of Massachusetts Honeybees” Kim Skirm PhD. Massachusetts State Apiary Inspector. Kim will provide an update on conditions found by inspectors and describe current services and support provided by the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture.
3:00 – 4:00PM – “Science, Research, and Honeybee Health” Dan Conlon (co-owner of Warm Colors Apiary) will talk about the latest findings by researchers relating to honeybee health. Each year research expands our understanding of how bees communicate, adapt to disease and pests, and the essential link they make between plants, wildlife and humans in the circle of life.