A festival celebrating bees and honey is scheduled to return to the Grand Valley.

The 13th annual Palisade International Honeybee Festival is set for April 9, returning after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The festival will be located in a couple of blocks where Main and Third streets intersect at the Town Plaza. The free event will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Vendors will set up from 9 to 10:30 a.m. after the streets are blocked to traffic.

Honey, bee-related  and craft vendors will sell products and services at the street market. Food will be available from a variety of trucks, vendors and local restaurants. From the Top, with Thomasina Russell and Terry Flanagan, will perform live music.  

A map and list of participating vendors is available on the website located at https://palisadehoneybeefest.org.

Ron Koss will emcee the event in the plaza. Stephanie Griggs from Bookcliff Gardens will talk about how to rewild a garden with pollinators. Dan Bean from the Palisade Insectary will lead a presentation on using bugs for good, not evil.

Dixie Burmeister and  Chad Griffith, executive chef at the Wine Country Inn, will demonstrate cooking with honey.

Ethan Noah will conduct the KREX Spelling Bee for elementary school students, which will be followed by a honeybee costume contest for children, adults and pets.  

Activities also are set for 5 to 8 p.m. April 8. The Blue Pig Gallery located at 101 W. Third St. will host a vendor reception featuring hors d’oeuvres, bee-themed art, educational talks by experts and honey wines from the Meadery of the Rockies.

Breean Fiihr from Mount Garfield Greenhouse will discuss buzzworthy gardening in the upstairs meeting room. Bean will talk about using insects for good, not evil.

A group of local business owners founded the festival to celebrate the agricultural heritage of Palisade as well as draw attention to the worldwide decline of the honeybee population.

The Palisade International Honeybee Festival Committee sponsors the festival in conjunction with the Town of Palisade and Palisade Chamber of Commerce as well as KREX 5 News, 103.9 The Planet and Western Colorado Beekeepers Association.