Bartram’s Garden and The Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild are inviting everyone to celebrate bees and honey with them on Sunday (Sept. 9). Bartram’s Garden is one of the venues hosting the 3rd Annual Honey Festival that will span three days in three locations this weekend. Check out the program below. For more information, visit http://phillyhoneyfest.com or contact: honeyfest@phillybeekeepers.org. For more upcoming events at Bartram’s Garden, click here.

10 am – 4 pm  – Annual Fall Plant Sale – all day long!
10 am – 2 pm  – Bee Discovery Day — Visit science stations, make a costume & march in the Be-a-Bee Parade!
10 am – Open Hive Talk — take a peek inside a real bee hive
10:30 am – How to Brew Honey Beer at Home: Part 1, with J. McMillan
11 am – PA Honey Queen Jessica Long demonstrates Cooking with Honey
11:30  – Mead-tasting
Noon – Honey Extraction
12:30 – Open Hive Talk
1 pm – Philadelphia Bees’ Stake in Pollination with Stephanie Wilson
1:30 pm – How to Brew Honey Beer at Home: Part 2 , J. McMillan
2 pm  – PA Honey Queen, Jessica Long demonstrates Cooking with Honey
2:30 pm  – Open Hive Talk
3 pm – Taste mead, braggot and honey-based homebrews; try Little Baby’s honey ice cream

Bartram’s Garden is located at 5400 Lindbergh Boulevard and is accessible by public transportation. Take No. 36 Trolley to 54th Street.

Honey bees have fallen on hard times in recent years. A mysterious phenomenon known as “colony collapse disorder,” where worker bees that maintain a hive suddenly disappear, has beekeepers on edge. Bees are also susceptible to all kinds of viruses and mites, not to mention pesticides. But as bee populations have decreased, the demand for locally produced honey has increased. Luckily, a growing group of Philly-based beekeepers is taking care of our local bees.

You can get a look inside the work of these beekeepers this Sunday at the Woodlands Cemetery as part of “Open Apiary Day,” a series of events across the city aimed at familiarizing folks with urban beekeeping.

In West Philly, beekeeper Daniel Duffy will discuss beekeeping at the working hives on the cemetery grounds from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Beekeeping has been intertwined with Philadelphia history since the 18th century. L.L. Langstroth, who is considered the father of modern beekeeping, was a Philadelphia native.

Open Apiary Day events are also taking place in Fairmount/Brewerytown and Mount Airy. The West Philly event includes a tour of the cemetery and arboretum.

Organizers are asking people to RSVP for the free event by calling 215-386-2181 or e-mailing info [at] woodlandsphila.org.

Later this month The Rotunda is hosting a June 23 screening of Queen of the Sun, a film about the disappearance of bees worldwide. The film starts at 7 p.m. and is a fundraiser for the Mariposa Food Co-op expansion.