16th Annual Honey Festival comes to O’Brien Park in Parker

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Colorado is home to 946 native bee species and this year’s Honey Festival is aimed at raising awareness and educating the public of their importance and their tedious process through fun interactive activities and games.

With nearly 3,000 people attending annually, the event is being held at O’Brien Park in Downtown Parker from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday Aug. 6. Admission is free but guests are encouraged to register on the Parker Arts website.

e event will also include a kids corner, performances and artistic displays.

“It’s a great event that brings vendors, the community and brings honeybee beekeepers in,” said Carrie Glassburn, cultural director of Parker Arts.

Honeybees are more valuable than just producing honey and beeswax. ey are important pollinators as they play a signi cant role in the agricultural system as well as animal and human life too.

According to e Bee Conservancy - a nonpro t organizationbees have been dying at an unprecedented rate.

A report from the United States

Department of Agriculture states between January and March of 2021, the number 464,640 honeybee colonies were lost , the highest number lost of any quarter surveyed that year.

A colony is a hive that contains a queen honeybee and her worker bees.