What are you doing for National Honey Bee Day this year? It’s coming up soon. Share your own plans or events in the comments section below. August 19, 2017 is officially “National Honey Bee Day” in the USA. Every year around the country, bee clubs and bee lovers gather together for education, outreach, fun activities and honey bee advocacy in celebration of the honey bee.

In the year of 2010, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, Thomas J. Vilsack, declared the first official day called “Honey Bee Awareness Day”.

The mission of the organization behind the creation of National Honey Bee Day is:

Promotion and advancement of beekeeping.

Educate the public to honey bees and beekeeping.

Make the public aware of environmental concerns affecting honey bees

Since then, organizations and individuals have been gathering to celebrate every year. One such example of this is taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this year at the Milwaukee County Zoo in cooperation with the company, Beepods.

As explained on their website, the National Honey Bee Day event will consist of their beekeepers hosting a hive-side demonstration with live honey bees to show how bees work and the role bees play with pollination and the food we eat. At this particular event, there will even bee presentations throughout the day that zoo visitors can attend to see if beekeeping might be a suitable hobby for them. Beepods has put together a Facebook event where Wisconsinites (and the general public) can RSVP to show their interest.