Anyone interested in learning more about local beekeeping can get up close and personal with the City of Airdrie's pilot project hive at Open Hive Days, held Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 from 1 to 2 p.m. at the City’s sole beehive, located at 15 East Lake Hill, near the Waste & Recycling Depot.
According to Gail Gibeau, senior planner and project manager for the urban agriculture pilot project, the goal of the project has been to raise awareness about urban beekeeping, and Open Hive Days is another way to do that.
“If you have any reservations at all [about urban beekeeping], or you just want to know some more information so you can make a determination whether or not it’s for you, we definitely advise coming out and…getting first hand information from the beekeeper,” she said.
For one hour each day, a beekeeper will be on site to conduct a show and tell. Gibeau said the beekeeper will open the hive and take out a panel to show people what the inside of a hive looks like, as well as answer questions about beekeeping. He will also discuss the typical size of a hive, how a healthy hive operates, how to harvest honey and what his hive maintenance regime entails.
“If the public’s interested in getting really up close and personal with the hive, we will have protective gear available for people to put on and get real close up,” Gibeau said. “We’re recommending people wear long pants at the very least, if they’re wishing to get up close to the hive.”
Registration is not required, and the public is invited to drop in during either of the hour-long sessions. Open Hive Days is weather dependent, Gibeau said, and will be rescheduled if it rains. Information about postponements will be communicated via the City’s social media accounts and online at airdrie.ca
According to Gibeau, the hive has been in place since June, and the pilot project will wrap up at the end of September. Over the summer, the beekeeper – a resident of Airdrie – has routinely tended to the hive as it’s grown from a single panel at the beginning of the project to four panels as of Aug. 28. The beekeeper has also recently harvested some of the honey produced by the hive, Gibeau added.
“One of the aims of the pilot project was to give people an opportunity to see ways we could incorporate urban beekeeping in an urban setting, and to use it as an educational piece for the public who want to know more about beekeeping and pollinators and have a closer look at an existing hive,” she said.
Gibeau said the pilot project has been a success, and the public has been generally supportive. Aside from some concern about the location of the hive – due to allergies – she said there has not been any opposition to the project.
Once the pilot project finishes at the end of September, Gibeau said City staff will examine where it succeeded and what any shortcomings might have been.
Following the evaluation, she said, administration will make a recommendation to Airdrie City council about the future of urban beekeeping – whether it should be considered more long term, or whether a second project should be undertaken next season. Those recommendations will likely come before council sometime in October, she added.
