by Bee Culture Staff
The CSBA is pleased to host the Western Apicultural Society annual conference. The conference will be held in Bee-utiful Boulder, Colorado on October 1-3, 2015 at the Millennium Hotel.
The conference theme is “Putting the Bee in Boulder” and we are indeed! The first two days will be “Healthy Bee” and will focus on topics supporting bee health. The final day is “Bee Healthy” and is focused on bees and human health/interaction and will be a community celebration featuring the ABF’s “Kids and Bees” program as well as Matt Camper from CSU performing a “bee beard” (or two).
Flying to Denver is an inexpensive proposition. Tickets from Seattle ($220 RT), Portland ($175 RT), Phoenix ($180 RT), Salt Lake City ($200 RT), San Fwrancisco ($300 RT), and Los Angeles ($200 RT). Not bad at all.
The conference pre-activities will start with National Honey Month. The National Honey Board, Colorado State Beekeepers Association (CSBA), along with the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Downtown Merchants Association will be holding a honey craft cocktail contest with the winner being served at the Bee Buzz Social on Wednesday evening at the CU Museum of Natural History!
We have a full schedule of top-notch speakers, with something for everyone, beginners to intermediate/advanced beekeepers. There will be talks on other subjects relating to bees – forage and programs by folks helping bees and pollinators. We’ll have speakers for lunch and dinner, along with additional tour options for WAS members. From Banjo Billy’s Bus Tours of Boulder to Rocky Mountain National Park from the Butterfly Pavilion and the Denver Botanic Gardens to the Celestial Seasonings tea tour.
Conference Schedule Highlights
Wednesday, September 30
The conference will begin on Wednesday afternoon with a Board of Directors meeting followed by the “Bee Buzz Social” on the CU campus, Museum of Natural History, with its bee collection of over 900 species. Alex Rose will speak briefly on the “Bees Needs” citizen science program. Honey craft cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Thursday, October 1
The conference goes into full swing with Elina Lastro Nino of UC-Davis. She will be joined by Jim Doan and Mark Winston as well as our partners at the Honey Bee Health Coalition and the Pollinator Stewardship Council. We will break into beginner and intermediate tracks for the balance of the afternoon. The Trade Show will get underway, too. Dinner will be on your own and the Next Generation Beekeepers conference will get fired up long about the time the rest of us will be “hitting the sack.”
Friday, October 2
The Friday speaker line-up is every bit as strong as Thursday with Susan Kegley of the Pesticide Research Institute, Peter Loring Borst of Cornell University and Jonathan Lundgren of USDA set to entertain and educate us. We will again break into beginner and intermediate tracks for the afternoon. The Banquet and Award ceremony will be held at the hotel this evening and will present a terrific opportunity for you to hobnob with the speakers.
Saturday, October 3
On Saturday, the focus of our conference will change from “Healthy Bee” to “Bee Healthy” and a community-wide celebration will begin! The morning sessions will feature several mainstream physicians who are using honey for general human health as well as for wound care. Dr. Marla Spivak, MacArthur Fellow and head of the University of Minnesota Bee Lab, will join us for lunch. The ABF Kids and Bees program will be available for the youngsters. There are FIVE different tracks available for conference attendees in the afternoon ranging from Apitherapy to Book Signings, Gardening for Pollinators to a “Who’s the Fairest of Them All” session featuring some of the country’s finest bee breeders. Don’t forget the Bee Beards!!!!!
The Farm-to-Table dinner will be seating in the early evening and will feature renowned southwest gardener, Lauren Springer Ogden, as the keynote speaker. Come hungry!!! And let Boulder’s finest farms tantalize your palate. (And if you are the winner of the Homecoming game tickets between the Oregon Ducks and the CU Buffaloes, we’ll miss you!)
Sunday, October 4
The CSBA is pleased and honored to host the 2015 WAS conference. We hope you will join us! Come for the conference, stay for the experience.
To stay in touch or to register for the WAS Conference visit www.westernapiculturalsociety.org.
