Despite weather woes, thousands flooded into the Yolo County Fairgrounds Saturday to attend this year’s California Honey Festival after it was forced to relocate there from its usual venue in downtown Woodland.
Cars streamed in and out of the fairgrounds’ dirt lot all day to visit one of Woodland’s most iconic events highlighting the importance of bees and pollinators in the region and around the world.
Al Eby, a representative for Visit Woodland and an organizer for the event, said organizers did not take the decision to relocate the event lightly and addressed concerns expressed by the community through social media.
“We just want everybody to be patient with us,” he emphasized on Thursday. “We’re making the best of unfortunate weather circumstances but we will get through this. At the end of the day, we’ll laugh about this and say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we pulled this off.’”
He thanked Sarah Pelle, CEO of the fairgrounds, for accommodating space for the festival to be held concurrently with the Yolo County 4-H Show Art & Science Fair.
The festival was held in four buildings including the Main Expo Building, Ag Floral Building, John Rogers building and Waite Hall with a food court in between Waite Hall and the Main Expo Building.
Eby thanked his team of staff and volunteers for being able to pivot and make the necessary changes to relocate the festival.
“They are absolutely stunning when they pivot like this and amazing to just be able to turn around, stop, regroup and face the challenges that are thrown at us every minute,” Eby stressed. “Words are not enough. I wish I could just say, ‘Here’s a check for $50,000,’ but that’s just not reality.”
“At the end of the day, we just want everybody to just be patient with us. We will get through it and we will have this amazing festival happen for the region. At the end of the day, we’ll laugh about this.”
Alisha Jeffries, a marketing representative for SugarBee Apples, noted that “hiccups” tend to happen at events like this and that “you just have to go with it.”
“They were a really great team to work with,” Jeffries said referring to Eby and his team. “I know it was a stressful situation for them to move everything indoors kind of last minute and thaty they preferred to have this outside… but this is a great solution for what they had available to them.”
Although this was SugarBee’s first time attending the honey festival, they were this year’s presenters, which Jeffries explained is due to the company’s love for bees.
“We celebrate our bees because the bees created our apples here,” she emphasized. “The bee is so important to growers and farmers. Without them, we wouldn’t have an apple like a SugarBee or some of the other produce. These bees take good care of us humans.”
SugarBee Apples can be found at Nugget, Sprouts, Walmart, Raleys, Safeway and Vons, according to Jeffries.
Dave Richard, a Woodland resident for over 30 years, attended the event for his first time with his grandchildren who he noted love bees.
“I think having more space over here allows for more vendors and more exhibits to be present, so I think it’s a really great idea,” he said. “I’m glad the fairgrounds made a quick pivot and allowed them to come over here. And then with all the 4-H students and animals, it’s just a perfect combination.”
Darlene Estes works at Rio Cosumnes Correction Center in Sacramento. She heard about the festival because of a vocational beekeeping program the center offers.
“I didn’t think this many people would show up but it’s really nice,” she remarked. “And the honey is delicious.”
She argued that events like this are important to provide awareness for the importance of bees and for people to be able to “reap the benefit of great tasting honey.”
Furthermore, the relocation of the event also meant less business for the downtown businesses that rely on the annual event.
However, the festival launched its California Honey Festival Restaurant Week with with Sugarbee Apples featuring 19 local restaurants making dishes with honey and Sugarbee Apples in their ingredients.
“We’re just trying to let people know and encourage them” to visit restaurants, Eby said. “All we can do is let them know that there are still shops downtown that support the Honey Festival, please patronize them as well.”
For more information about the festival, visit californiahoneyfestival.com.
