Whole Foods offers honey bee festival

Honey bees and their sweet product will get some tasty attention from a local business today.

Whole Foods Market, 1050 Miamisburg-Centerville Road in Centerville, is hosting a Pollinator and Honey Festival from noon to 4 p.m., an event with exhibits, food and educational activities for children. It's timed for Pollinator Week, the U.S. Senate-designated week to highlight the threats that honey bees and other pollinators face.

Whole Foods is partnering with the Levin Family Foundation, which is underwriting a number of honey bee related initiatives around the region to promote pollinator health.

Store-wide samples of honey related foods will be in every department and visitors can explore bee-themed crafts, exhibitor booths, face painting, a scavenger hunt and an observation bee hive from the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery.

Expect a variety of honeys available for tasting, honey-glazed salmon and chicken wings, and cheeses with honey, said Lauren Romansky of Whole Foods Market.

An outdoor classroom will offer The Ohio Department of Agriculture’s presentation on bee keeping and the Aullwood Audubon Center & Farm’s talk on “Unexpected Pollinators: Birds, Butterflies & Mammals.”

Mead, or honey-wine, will be available for tastings as well.

Karen Levin, executive director of the Levin Family Foundation, said it’s the first event of its kind for the foundation.

“We are trying to come out and make people aware of plight of pollinators and engage children,” she said.

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