Honeybee Festival new venue next year
The Palisade International Honeybee Festival will move to a new venue at Cross Orchards Historic Site next April 11.
Cross Orchards, part of the Museums of Western Colorado, provides a living demonstration of historic farming operations at its 3073 F Road (Patterson) location.
Board President Michelle Gossage said it was a unanimous decision of the Palisade International Honeybee Festival board to move to Cross Orchards, because the festival has outgrown its original venue of downtown Palisade.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to the Town of Palisade, which has supported the festival since our beginning. We could not have enjoyed the success we have experienced without the support of the town and the good people of Palisade,” Gossage said.
Gossage said the new venue will provide more space for vendors, more parking, more activity features, an easy access location and many more helping hands. The festival will continue to have free admission.
“We are absolutely thrilled to join forces with Cross Orchards to reach a broader audience about the urgency of enlisting the public in protecting honeybees and other pollinators. Unfortunately, colony decline continues as recent catastrophic setbacks make immediate action even more critical,” Gossage said. “Together we can better influence individual cooperation to protect our local agricultural economy.”
Mollie Shepardson, director of development and communications for the Museums of Western Colorado, said the partnership aligns with Cross Orchards’ dedication to preserving and sharing the region’s agricultural heritage.
“Cross Orchards Historic Site, with its authentic early 20th-century apple orchard setting, provides a unique and engaging backdrop for demonstrating the vital role honeybees play in our ecosystem and the history of orchard cultivation,” Shepardson said. “We anticipate that visitors will find the experience both educational and deeply enjoyable, connecting with the rich story of our site in a truly special way.”
One focus will be to inform individuals about what they can do to help.
“We can plant more bee-friendly flowers and shrubs in our gardens,” Gossage said. “We can stop using insecticides that kill off our pollinators. We can lobby for regulations on these products, especially the tobacco-based ones. We can become beekeepers.”
Gossage said the festival and Cross Orchards are “keeping our eyes on the prize” of reversing pollinator loss.
For more information about the Palisade International Honeybee Festival, visit palisadehoneybeefest.org, contact Gossage at magossage@gmail.com or (970) 433-0647, or Shepardson at info@mowc.co or (970) 242-0971.
The Palisade International Honeybee Festival is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 2008 by a group of Palisade business owners of The Blue Pig Gallery, Colorado Wine Country Inn, Grande River Vineyards, Meadery of the Rockies and Z’s Orchard. The event was the vision of former resident and beekeeper Tina Darrah and Marla Wood, original owner of The Blue Pig Gallery.
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