Pollination Celebration! takes place during the whole month of June, and it is a communal celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats, beetles, flies, and more.
About 90% of all wild plants and trees rely on pollinators for the survival of their species. Pollinators also support healthy ecosystems that clean our air, stabilize soils, and support other wildlife.
Come out to the following Pollination Celebration! events to learn more about native pollinators, pollination, why we need pollinators, and how pollinators need your help! For all the up-to-date details for each event below, check the official Asheville Pollination Celebration! Month website at Asheville GreenWorks, the facilitator for Bee City USA Asheville activities starting in 2017.
June 27 (Tuesday at 7:00)
The Collider and Oskar Blues Brewery present the award-winning “Flight of the Butterflies”–a natural history epic, a compelling detective story, and a scientific adventure at its best. It took Dr. Fred Urquhart almost 40 years to discover the monarch butterflies’ secret hideaway and prove the most incredible migration on Earth. Following the year-long annual migration cycle of the butterflies, the award-winning production team filmed hundreds of millions of monarchs in their remote overwintering sanctuaries in Mexico in 2011, again in 2012, and also along their migratory routes from Canada, across the U.S. and into Mexico. The movie will be followed by a facilitated conversation with Environmental Educator, Kim Bailey. Kim first visited the monarch overwintering sanctuaries in Mexico in 2002 and has since co-led several trips to the area. After 14 years coordinating a statewide environmental education program for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, she fulfilled her longtime dream of launching Milkweed Meadows Farm in Fruitland, NC. She now enjoys growing milkweed, wildflowers, fruits, and vegetables; producing open-pollinated seeds for Sow True Seed; keeping bees and raising butterflies.
Butterfly Exhibit
May 13-October 29
For the entire month of June and beyond, the North Carolina Arboretum, a Bee Campus USA affiliate, will present “Winged Wonders: Step Into the World of Butterflies.” See the miracle of metamorphosis before your very eyes. On display inside the Baker Exhibit Center Greenhouse, Winged Wonders is an indoor butterfly exhibit featuring a chrysalis-rearing chamber and a walk-through butterfly house where visitors can meet a whole host of local butterfly species, including monarchs, swallowtails and more. Discover hidden fanciful fairy gardens & gnome homes constructed with local, natural materials within plantings of butterfly-attracting plants. Visitors may also enjoy the Arboretum’s signature Quilt Garden, which is designed in a butterfly quilt block pattern. There is no fee, but non-members must pay a parking fee of $14.00, except on Tuesday, June 6, when parking costs only $7.00.
Beer for Bees!
In addition to Oskar Blues Brewery sponsoring The Collider’s movie nights for pollinators on May 30 and June 27, Asheville’s Twin Leaf Brewery is featuring a special Honey Tea Beer for the whole month of June to spread some bee love.
Honeybees & Garden Tours
June 24 (Saturday at 2:00-5:00)
The Buncombe County Beekeepers Club and Organics Growers School present “So you wanna be a Beekeeper?” at Lenoir Rhyne University on Montford Avenue. This timely program on how to get started in beekeeping will be presented by experienced local beekeepers. Topics will include basic bee biology and terminology, how to acquire bees, beekeeper responsibilities, equipment and investment (cost), producing local honey, benefits of joining a bee club, and more. Organic Growers School (OGS) is the premiere provider of practical and affordable organic education in the Southern Appalachians, by building a vibrant food and farming community and boosting the success of organic home growers and farmers in our region.
June 21 (Wednesday at 4:00)
The Botanical Gardens of Asheville presents Book Club Meeting for “Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit” by Andrew Moore. Join BGA staffer Heather Rayburn as she hosts a special book club in celebration of Pollination Celebration! Month. Participants should read Andrew Moore’s “Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit,” before the event. The Gardens will have paperback copies of the book available for purchase in BGA’s Visitor Center at the end of April (but you don’t have to purchase a copy from BGA to attend). The meeting includes refreshments and a visit to the Pawpaw patch. Why this book? Everyone knows about the sexy bee pollinators, but the plant world also benefits from the pollination of other insects, bats, birds, rodents and even lizards. The Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a native understory tree pollinated by carrion flies and other insects attracted to the maroon color of its blossoms, which give off the odor of rotting meat. The tree is also the only food source for the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar. Heather is the creator of www.MonarchLover.org, a website dedicated to promoting the planting of native milkweed to help the endangered Monarch butterfly. A $10.00 preregistration is required.
June 22 (Thursday at 5:30)
The West Asheville Library and the Buncombe County office of the NC Cooperative Extension present “Pollinator Superheroes.” Extension agent Meghan Baker will discuss who the pollinators are, what plants they love, and how you can help pollinator superheroes in your backyard! There will be an additional activity for kids to learn about pollinators.
Especially for Kids
In addition to the Blue Ghost Brewery’s kid-friendly event on June 18 and the West Asheville Library’s kid-friendly event on June 22…
June 23 (Friday at 11:00)
The West Asheville Library and the North Carolina Arboretum present “Six Legs, Two Antennae: Introduction to Insects” for ECOEXPLORER.” Kids ages 7-13 will learn how they can be an ecoEXPLORER, earn badges & cool prizes, and become a scientist in the field. They will find out what makes an insect an insect and how to identify the major groups, and then check out the ecoEXPLORE hotspot to make and submit some observations. Each participant will receive a free insect magnifying box!
Dining Out for Bees
June 1-30
Dine out and get to know a little more about who pollinates and helps produce your food, from honey bees to squash bees, bumble bees, blueberry bees, orchard bees, moths, butterflies, bats, hummingbirds, beetles, and more! To celebrate pollinators during the entire month of June, Season’s at Highland Lake will be featuring a delectable dessert made with local honey. Plus, you’ll be doing something sweet for pollinators, as 20% of sales of this special dessert will be donated to Bee City USA to help create healthy pollinator habitats. Don’t miss the opportunity to also stroll through the restaurant’s own organic gardens, enjoy bountiful blooms, and observe the beauty of pollination in action.