Talk about a bee celebration!

Folks with a passion for honey bees and native bees can head over to Mill Valley on Saturday, June 18 for "The Celebration of the Bees."

To be held from 1 to 4 p.m. at 221 Hillside Gardens, Mill Valley, it's a community gathering to benefit the beekeeping projects of SuperOrganism, the Marin Pollen Project, and the Marin Survivor Stock Queen Bee Project.

The "bee-in" will include a presentation on native bees by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis; a talk on honey bees by master beekeeper and writer Mea McNeil of San Anselmo; demonstration and learning stations presented by the Marin Beekeepers’ Association; honey tasting featuring local varieties of honey; mead (honey wine) tasting; and live Celtic music. Hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Thorp will discuss the diversity of native bees, such as bumble bees, carpenter bees and leafcutting bees,  and how residents can provide habitat for them.  He does research on the role of native bees in crop pollination, the role of urban gardens as bee habitat, and declines in native bumble bee populations.

Since 2002, Thorp has served as an instructor in The Bee Course, offered annually through the American Museum of Natural History, New York at its Southwest Research Station, Portal, Ariz.

It's good to see a bee celebration that includes both honey bees and native bees.

Tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased from the Savory Thymes website. Jerry Draper is taking reservations at beecele@superorg.org.  Although children will be admitted free,  reservations are required, he said.

Mid-June should be a great time to celebrate the bees--if the weather agrees to "bee" nice.