Summer is here and it cannot be long before the time for the State Fair of Texas and the TBA Honey Booth. This year we will have a very interested audience that has been inundated by the media blitz about the Colony Collapse Disorder. This will give us a unique opportunity to tell the important story of honey and bees.

Since the least known facet of beekeeping to the public is the pollination necessary for food production, it will be our focus in the honey booth this year. If you have any photos of pollination by honey bees, we would be interested in considering them for use in the booth. If you have any suggestions for telling the story of pollination, please send them to me.

As always, your help is needed to provide the honey and funding for the booth. After the upgrading of the booth a couple of years ago, we will need more honey than ever and we will need your financial support to be able to tell the story. We are asking the commercial beekeepers to lead the way with $200 donations and the hobbyists $25 or more, if possible. We really need to raise about $4000 this year.

The TBA Honey Booth provides the best opportunity to get our story to the public. Over 1 million consumers pass by the booth each year, according to the numbers furnished by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Exposure to each consumer costs less than 4 tenths of a cent. That is very inexpensive. Honey and bees have been the news a lot lately. This has increased the demand for honey. Help us make the Texas consumer realize that they need to purchase TEXAS HONEY.

Our Honey Queens do a great job with the cooking demonstrations that make the public aware of what a wonderful ingredient honey can be in the kitchen. Please help them tell the story. Honey will be showcased by the Honey Queens on the last weekend of the Fair, October 18 and 19.

Can you donate a case of honey with your label, or even a jar? Contact John Talbert at 972/843-8084 if you can. Can you be a volunteer in the booth to help tell the story of bees and honey? We need you to sign up for a date. Please look over the scheduled time slot times below.