The 2024 Thurston County Fair wrapped up Sunday and with it the theme of “bees”. Thanks to part of the grant from Inspire Olympia we were able to rejuvenate and refresh the Bee Booth.
Included in the upgrades;
- A new wall mount fan for air circulation
- Wooden butcher block counter tops
- New posters with framing
- New signage
- We are also helping out with the curbing on the pollinator garden. This is because we were frugal and were able to get a few items for free!
- TV for Slideshow (thanks Buy Nothing)
- Small fridge for honey sticks and volunteer water
The feedback we received from both fairgoers and members was great! It was noticed that we had spruced up the booth. Next year we will make even more improvements.
The booth provided information to hundreds of people. We also did our first blind Honey Tasting. We had four entries. The final standings were;
- Nathan Allan – 345
- Gail Booth – 337
- Lynn Phillipi – 297
- David Bruun – 183
Interesting things our volunteers noted;
- Young males enjoyed Lynn’s thick dark honey, which people commented tasted of various things including Blackberry, Barley, Alcohol and Molasses. Lynn’s dropped in popularity as it started to run out on the last day.
- Nathan’s honey was the lightest, an early harvest so maybe Maple. His crystalized towards the end of the fair and his numbers went way down the last day (there was not much left!).
- Gail’s increased in popularity on the weekend.
- No one really liked David’s honey, one small child cried (I made that up, although one hated it all).
Finally the booth generated $623 of income from honey and bee wear sales. We really have a limited offering of predominately larger sizes left. So if you want anything let Nathan know! We could have sold more honey but ran out. It is a great opportunity for members to sell their own honey (you have to volunteer to do that though). If you do sell your honey locally please let Nathan know so he can list you on this web site. Fairgoers really want to find more year round sources for honey.