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DAVIS--Show me the honey!

The Honey! event on Friday, Oct. 21 in the UC Davis Conference Center will include talks by UC Davis bee scientists, a honey-themed lunch, honey tasting, a best-honey contest, and a reception featuring The Honeybee Trio of Vacaville.

The event, set from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., is a public celebration of bees and honey. Open to everyone, it is sponsored by Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science and co-sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology. The site is located across from the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

Event coordinator Clare Hasler-Lewis, executive director of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (RMI), said the five UC Davis or former UC Davis faculty will speak.

Morning speakers  are Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Department of Entomology who will discuss “The Wonder of Honey Bees”; assistant professor/bee biologist Brian Johnson, who will speak on “How Bees Cooperate to Make Honey and What they Do With It When We Don't” and emeritus professor/bee scientist Norman Gary, an author and professional bee wrangler, whose topic is  “Hobby Beekeeping in Urban Environments.”

Afternoon speakers are Louis Grivetti,  professor emeritus, Department of Nutrition, discussing “Historical Uses of Honey as Food” and Liz Applegate,  professor, Department of Nutrition and director of Sports Nutrition Program, “Sweet Success—Honey for Better Health and Performance.”

Mussen will coordinate the honey sampling and honey judging.  Attendees will judge different varieties of honey, such as clover, fireweed, orange blossom, eucalyptus, tupelo, safflower and buckwheat. Further details will be announced on the RMI website at http://robertmondaviinstitute.ucdavis.edu/honey.

The popular Honeybee Trio of Vacaville (Karli Bosler, 16; Natalie Angst, 16, and Sarah McElwain,15, all students at Will C. Wood High School, Vacaville) will entertain with such songs as “Sugartime.” (See rehearsal on YouTube.) Their repertoire includes classics from the 1930s and beyond in three part-harmony.

Gimbal's Fine Candies of San Francisco will provide samples of Honey Lovers. Part of the proceeds from the sale of their product goes to support beekeeping programs at UC Davis.

Norm Gary will sign and sell his newly published book, “Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees.”  On display will be bee observation hives by Brian Fishback, of Wilton, past president of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers’ Association and a volunteer at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.

In addition, beekeeping equipment will be displayed from the Laidlaw facility, and bee and book products by Rev Honey (Ron Fessenden, M.D.)

Recently reduced prices are:  industry members and the public: $50; UC faculty, staff and Friends of the RMI: $35, and UC students, $15. For those attending the reception only, the cost is $10 general admission and $5 for students.  Reservations may be made online at http://robertmondaviinstitute.ucdavis.edu/honey or with Kim Bannister at kbannister@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-5171.