Manitoba Beekeepers' Association

2012 Manitoba Honey Show

The Manitoba Beekeepers’ Association (MBA) sponsors a yearly Competition for honey producers including an industry promotional element for honey consumers. Typical categories include: Honey, Comb, Frames, Beeswax, Photography and often a Beverage category too! Note the NEW photo category reflecting the 2011 theme “Pure Manitoba Honey – In Many Forms”. Check out the Honey Show Rules and Regulations. The show is usually organized and staffed by members of the Winnipeg area Hobby group (Red River Apiarists Association). To enter, fill out a Honey Show Entry Form.

Location: Centre Court Area, Forks Market, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Theme: Pure Manitoba Honey–In Many Forms

Dates: Friday September 28 thru Sunday September 30, 2012

Last year, The 2011 Manitoba Honey Show attracted considerable visitor attention with the theme “Pure Manitoba Honey- in many forms”, along with several new competition entrants.

 

The 2011 Manitoba Honey Show took place the weekend of September 31- October 2, at the Forks Market, Winnipeg. The purpose of the show continues to be based around interacting with consumers about the benefit of honey bees for pollinating foods we eat plus providing a healthy food, educating consumers on the uses and varieties of honey products, and empowering consumers to communicate directly with local food producers.

As part of the plan to enhance and stimulate conversations with consumers, the Show featured an array of items promoting recent innovations in honey packaging. Colourful signage drew people’s attention to the beneficial uses and conveniences of honey found on store shelves “in many forms”, which range from new aseptic honey dispensor, to snap packs to dried wafers.

 

Promotion for the show was done via news releases to various Winnipeg area papers plus the Manitoba Co-operator. As a result, the cooperator conducted an interview with Jim Campbell, MBA Secretary and RRAA Executive member on 30 September, who described the purposes of the show and the value of Honey Bees to the pollination and honey economy of Manitoba. 

 

With a little creativity, the new table setup helped traffic flow while providing adequate access to the Competition area, the Industry space, the Observation Hive, the Product area, and the newly added “Honey Forms” promotion display.

 

The Honey Competition featured four new entrants for 2011, which provided a welcome sight, creating a good active competition from beginning beekeepers to those with many years under their belt.  Prize winning honey frames attractively capped with beautiful white wax intrigued visitors. In another area photographs highlighted various elements of the Beekeeping industry. A new category for 2011 focused on the theme “Pure Manitoba Honey-In many Forms”. At the educational element showing Honey Throughout the Year, Ken Rowes had jars with different colours reflecting floral source nectar at different times of the season. Thanks to Donna, Ken, Sandra, Barb, Jim and Don for setting up the display, and Charles for bringing material from Bee Maid

 

Live Bees in the Observation Hive continue to enthrall both young and older visitors, where beekeeper volunteers spent many hours describing the intricacies of hive life. Thanks to staff at U of M, the yellow dot on the thorax of the queen aided viewers in their quest for the queen. Thanks to John Speer, Duane Versluis, Brian & Sandra Smith, Josh Kolesar, Don Gray and Jim Campbell for informing visitors at this station. Conversations often led guests to express their concern for bee losses and the probable causes. Consumers still are interested in obtaining pollination for their garden vegetables and fruit trees. 

Interactive Demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday entertained visitors at the show by drawing attention to the benefits of our industry. Cooking and Extracting demonstrations were conducted periodically during the three-day event. Thanks to John Russell, a trained chef, taking control at the kitchen grill, while Charles Polcyn turned the manual extractor into a honey-making machine.

 

Meanwhile, the Hourds and Polcyns were kept busy offering samples of products, answering visitor questions, and serving their customers wit various honey and bee related products.

 

Thanks to the many volunteers helping out, the entrants for the show, MBA financial support, Bee Maid financial donation and equipment loaners. Special appreciation to the Honey Show judges: Sam Barlin, Josh Kolesar, and David Ostermann for judging the competition entries.

 

What a great weekend for the show! Lots of visitors and the weather was super nice!