During Garden Jubilee, being celebrated May 22-25 at various nurseries, farms, and orchards around Henderson County, Hendersonville’s Bee City USA tent will be set up outdoors at Sideways Farm & Brewery, 62 Eade Rd. (off Old 64) in Etowah. There one may find a plethora of pollinator-friendly plants, honey-based products, eco-friendly gear, pollinator-themed note cards designed by local school children, and other related items. Sideways Brewery, one of the few breweries in the nation using honey instead of corn sugar to add carbonation to their bottles of small batch artisan brews, provides an appropriate location for Bee City USA-Hendersonville to continue fundraising efforts for the Bee Mural initiative.
Volunteers at the tent will provide information about pollinators and their importance, and sales will support on-going fundraising efforts for the “Bring the Hive Alive!” Bee Mural Project. The larger-than-life mural is planned to be painted on an exterior wall of Hand’s On! Children’s Museum in downtown Hendersonville in October and November.
Bee City USA Pollinator-Friendly Plant Sale Now Underway
In addition, an online plant sale with contact-free curbside plant pick-up locations is now available. The sale specializes in plants that are popular for pollinator gardens as well as hard-to-find native and/or locally suitable species. Additional items are available, as well, including bee-happy note cards (created by the “Honey Bees” kindergarten class at FernLeaf Community Charter School), local honey, bee cabins/hotels for the garden, “Bring the Hive Alive!” crowd-funding donor reward packages, and more. Visit https://www.hendersonvillenc.gov/pollinator-friendly-plant-sale-fundraiser.
Where Will The Bee Mural Be?
A larger-than-life bee mural will be painted on the exterior walls at Hands On! Children’s Museum building, facing Azalea parking lot in downtown Hendersonville (along Third Ave. between Main St. and King St.) This project helps extend the children’s museum’s mission of inspiring creativity and wonder through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) to the entire community, and adds to the art appeal of downtown’s ArtScape banners, colorful bears, and the large handsome mosaic nature scene … all of which make downtown Hendersonville a family-friendly arts destination. It also gives a significant nod to our community’s agricultural businesses, acknowledging that honey bees and other pollinators are important to our economy and heritage.
Who Will Paint The Mural?
Artist Matthew Willey, with a 25-year career of painting murals, has been hired to paint the mural. He founded The Good of the Hive as a personal commitment to hand-paint 50,000 honey bees in murals around the world. Through art and imagination, his work inspires curiosity and awareness about the importance of honey bees and other pollinators while celebrating the power in human connection. During the weeks it will take to paint the mural this fall, Matt purposefully involves viewers, thus becoming a pollinator educator as well as a painter.
Community Support Encouraged
Hands On! Children’s Museum is hosting an online crowd-funding campaign for the Bee Mural Project with “Bring the Hive Alive!” rewards donated by local organizations and businesses. Supporter levels range from $25 to $100 and include thank-you gifts such as jars of local honey from the Henderson County Beekeepers Association, stickers from The Good of the Hive, honey bee window clings from Hendersonville’s Bee City USA affiliate, and enrollment in the “How to Grow a Pollinator Café” online course from Gardens That Matter. To view the complete list of donor gifts and choose your donation level, please visit https://handsonwnc.org/hive or text “buzz” to 44321.
For more information contact Kim Bailey at beecityhendersonville@gmail.com or follow the initiative’s progress at facebook.com/BringtheHiveAlive. Learn more about the Bee Mural Project and all upcoming pollinator events at https://www.hendersonvillenc.gov/pollinator-events
Hendersonville’s Bee City USA tent at Sideways Farm & Brewery in Etowah during the upcoming Garden Jubilee, May 22-25, will offer information about on-going efforts for the Bee Mural Project in downtown.
