Celebrate National Honey Month in Philadelphia this September with a weekend filled with food trucks, small business shopping, crafts and honey-based holistic remedies.
The Philadelphia Honey Festival will take place from Sept. 8 through Sept. 11 at three locations in the city. The event features plenty of food and drink options for the whole family and is free to attend, but donations are encouraged.
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The celebration kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 8 at Glen Foerd, 5001 Grant Ave., in Torresdale from 5 to 9 p.m. Food will be provided by The Clean Plate Club and a Haagen-Dazs ice cream truck. Visitors must register in advance to attend.
Made With Mutual Respect Collective will be on site to serve honey-themed cocktails and vendors like Honey Rose Botanicals, The Eco Joynt, and Duende Textiles will be selling goods. Activities include crafting a bee hotel — where bees can nest for long periods of time – and yard games on the lawn.
At 5:30 p.m., Alyssa Schimmel of Many Hands Apothecary will take guests on a plant walk around the grounds to teach about what plants are perfect for pollinators. Don Shump of the Philadelphia Bee Co. will present a live bee beard demonstration across his face at 6:30 p.m.
There will be a live honey extraction at 7:30 p.m. and Wild Ones of Southeastern PA will be available to answer questions and teach guests how to make their yards polinator-friendly.
On Saturday, Sept. 10, the festival heads over to Wyck Historic House Garden and Farm, 6026 Germantown Ave., in Germantown from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The all-day celebration features entertainment from Germantown Radio, food from The Clean Plate Club and Two Street Sammies, and a vendor market selling honey and natural products.
Take a peek into a real beehive while a beekeeper explains the life cycle of honeybees at 10:30 a.m., 12 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. From 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., try out Wyck's cider press or head over to the marketplace to hear FarmerJawn's Christa Barfield discuss the health benefits of honey and other bee-related products.
At 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., check out a live honey extraction before heading over to the Beer & Mead Garden. Shump will be back at at 2:30 p.m. for another live bee beard demonstration.
The Philadelphia Honey Festival wraps up at Bartram's Garden in Southwest Philly on Sunday, Sept. 11 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The final day features food from Two Street Sammies and Lil Pop Shop, free bike riding courtesy of the Bicycle Coalition, and activities like costume making, games and a honey remedy workshop.
There will also be a health and wellness table with educational programming about apitherapy, an alternative form of therapy that uses products that come directly from honeybees.
From 10 to 10:45 a.m., Schimmel of Many Hands Apothecary will be back to provide alternative health remedies with honey and propolis. There will be live storytelling at 10:15 a.m., 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., along with beekeeper chats at 10:30 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Shump will be back once again to do a live bee beard demonstration at 1 p.m.
National Honey Month was first instituted by the National Honey Board in 1989 and has been observed each September since. It's an important time of year for bees and beekeepers, as the honey collecting season ends throughout the United States and bees prepare for a long winter.
For more information about the festival, check out the Philly Honey Fest's Instagram.
Philadelphia Honey Fest
Sept. 8-11, 2022
Free to attend
Glen Foerd: 5001 Grant Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19114
Wyck Historic House, Garden, and Farm: 6026 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19144
Bartram's Garden: 5400 Lindbergh Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19143