Qld Garden Expo 2021 – Nambour
I visited the Qld Garden Expo at Nambour Showgrounds to check in on Hive Haven’s stand and Tim Heard’s presentations. My first visit to the Nambour Expo, some said the numbers were down on previous years possibly to do with Covid. I thought it was pretty packed with long lines for coffee and food, coffee being the most important of course! It was a full and busy day with plenty on offer with displays and presentations.
There was a little issue with the official program map as it didn’t actually name the buildings which left quite a few people confused about where to go for presentations.
Native Bee Presentations – Tim Heard
The first session for Tim Heard’s presentation had around fifty people and once everyone worked out where to go the third session saw over one hundred. A lot of interest from everyone in native bees with quite a few of the same people showing up for each of the four sessions throughout the day, ranging from “Introduction to native bees” through to the last session of “Advanced bee keeping skills.”
The organisers may have underestimated the popularity of native bees with limited seats. Plenty of people standing, sitting on the ground, and a small TV screen made some of the information difficult to see but Tim did a great job explaining everything.
Tim held a quick splitting demonstration for a small crowd that were eager to stay between official sessions. People are always amazed to see inside a stingless bee colony.
Hive Haven Stand
There was a lot of interest and activity at the Hive Haven stand with Ann and Jeff fielding questions from the crowd. I believe they sold a few full and empty boxes and plenty of Tim Heard’s native bee books. Demand for full colonies is always high with Hive Haven having a limited amount available. Jeff said they’re working on building up numbers so they will have more available over the next few years.
Ann is always active in giving out samples of their stingless bee honey for people to taste test. Tim dropped by the Hive Haven stand at the end of the day for a book signing session.
Websites:
- Qld Garden Expo: https://qldgardenexpo.com.au
- Hive Haven: https://hivehaven.com.au
- Sugarbag Bees: https://sugarbag.net
