By JOLENE CRAIG
Ohio Correspondent

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — The 2011 West Virginia State Honey Festival in Parkersburg City Park, about five miles from the Ohio border, will be Aug. 27-28.

Festival hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday with admission of $3 per adult and $1 for children aged 5-12. Children younger than 5-years-old are free.

The 31st annual state honey festival will feature a variety of activities, displays, vendors and entertainment. One highlight, according to organizer Tom Riddle, will be cooking demonstrations by Teresa Bryson, the 2011 American Honey Queen.
Bryson is from Chambersburg Pa., and is a decade-long member of 4-H. She has been keeping her own bees for three years and manages five hives in her family’s apiary.

The Honey Queen will be using honey in a variety of ways to show festival goers how honey can be used in many recipes.

“Every year we try to have things that will entertain and inform people about the importance of honey bees and what honey can be used for,” Riddle said.

Riddle said the Honey Festival’s purpose has always been to promote the honey industry through crafts, entertainment and products.

“The biggest draws to the festival are the bee beard and the West Virginia Honey Princess Pageant,” he said.
“The bee beard is done a few times each day and there’s always a large crowd for it.”

This year’s festival will include a honey and wax show, honey and beeswax products, a honey bake contest, honey extraction and beehive demonstrations. There will also be candle dipping and cooking demonstrations, historical presentations and live bee beards by Steve Conlon.

Conlon has attended the festival for several years and uses hundreds of live bees to create a beard.

Demonstrations and activities will include woodworking, candle making, spinning, weaving, corn shelling and grinding, period toys and games, transportation, blacksmithing, paper marbling, animal tracks and skins and other heritage-related activities.
There will also be live entertainment at this year’s festival with many local acts performing on the stage behind the park pavilion.
Demonstrations on the extraction of honey and honey bees will be given throughout both days of the festival by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture in the pavilion and on the grounds.
Honey tasting will be ongoing in the pavilion and will be provided by the West Virginia Beekeepers Assoc.

According to the festival’s website (www.wvhoneyfestival.org), the event was formed to celebrate and educate the public on the importance of honey and the Honey Bee.