By Taylor Boyd
The second annual Ridgeway Bee Festival is set for Saturday, May 2 at the Ridgeway Town Park.
The event will take place rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Ridgeway Mayor Craig O’Der said the town started the Bee Festival last year after it was named an official Bee City USA Town.
“One of the things that we have to do every year for certification is we have to have some event to educate people about how important bees are in pollinating our plants and so forth. So we decided to turn it into a big celebration,” he said.
Since becoming mayor, O’Der said one of his priorities was to do something that would improve Ridgeway’s ecology and its environment.
“This is one of the things that I wanted to accomplish during my tenure as mayor, and it grows every year. I think we’re up to seven or eight pollinator gardens, we’re trying to do one every year to keep that going,” he said.
O’Der said the next pollinator garden will be installed next to Ridgeway’s athletic park once it’s open.
Another future pollinator garden will be installed at the Ridgeway Ruritan Club building. O’Der believes funding from the Harvest Foundation will be used for the project.
“I think it’s kind of catching on, and you’re starting to see other communities are starting to” become Bee USA towns. “I was actually just speaking to the vice-mayor of the Town of Chatham who was asking me how we’re doing with this because he wasn’t sure if it’d be a worthwhile project, but I think I convinced him it really is,” O’Der said.
Like last year’s festival, O’Der said bee keepers will be onsite doing an educational program.
“I was amazed at how much I learned about bees last year in speaking with the bee keepers. We’ll actually have an observation hive there so people can see how a hive works,” he said.
O’Der said the Magna Vista High School Horticulture Department will also be selling plants and volunteer C.D. Prillaman will be able to answer any gardening related questions people have.
“I think we’re giving out free seeds too if people want to start their own pollinator garden,” O’Der added.
A costume contest for youngsters to dress up as bees will be held at 1 p.m.
Festival memorabilia like magnets, T-shirts, keychains, and others will be available for purchase.
O’Der estimates more than 30 vendors have registered to set up at the festival. There is no cost for vendors to set up during the event.
Food vendors include Tammy’s Grill, Sweet Revenge Bakery, Scuffle Hill Brewing Company, Cona Ice, and others.
Other vendors will be selling bee-related products, goats milks products, crafts, and more.
O’Der estimates more than 1,000 people attended last year’s event.
“We’re just excited because it brings a lot of people together and it brings the community together. I mean last year we had people from Hillsville come down and some people from North Carolina. I was pleasantly surprised with all the turnout we had,” he said.
For more information, go to Facebook.com/TownofRidgeway or contact the town office at 276-956-2328.
