Lansing resident Corinne Williams, 6, laughs alongside Lansing resident Anderson Stevens, 7, as they stick their hands into a bee tent June 23, 2013, during MSU Bee Palooza at the MSU Horticulture Demonstration Gardens. The event was hosted in order to teach children about bees and to promote bee health. Danyelle Morrow/The State News
In observance of National Pollinator Week, MSU held the annual Bee Palooza at the Horticulture Gardens on Sunday.
The venue was swarming with more than just bees, as children of all ages showed up with families to participate in the various events organized by the Department of Entomology. The stations included bumblebee demonstrations, bees and food, and pollinator garden design amongst others.
Entomology professor Rufus Isaacs said the event was designed to create awareness through interactive activities.
“This is our second annual Bee Palooza and we have graduate students and postdoctoral scientists and faculty members from the Department of Entomology doing an outreach event all about bees and pollination and how important these are to our lives,” Isaacs said.
“This is National Pollinator Week, so we are doing this as a part of that event to make sure people are aware of this.”
Julianna Wilson, MSU outreach specialist and organizer of the event, explained the common misconceptions about bees. She said bees are considered scarier than they are actually supposed to be.
“Most bees are pretty docile and they don’t attack you,” she said. “Most people when they gotten stung and think it is a bee, most of the time it is a wasp that did it. They are social wasps and they are also black and yellow but they are not hairy.”
Bumblebee breeder at Koppert Biological Systems, Cedric Dawson, who held the bumblebee demonstration station at the event said they aim to acquaint people with pollination through this event.
“We are here to educate on why they are such major pollinators and what they do for the environment,” Dawson said.
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