Native Bee Expo and Sugarbag Festival

Important details

  • Date: Sunday 5 February 2023
  • Time: 10am to 4pm
  • Location: Bulimba Community Centre – Barramul St, Bulimba Qld
  • Visitor Entry – FREE

Sponsors, Stall Holders & Volunteers Form

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Native Bee Expo and Sugarbag Festival

Schedule

  • Stall holders/Sponsors/Hive drop off for exhibitors and stalls – 8am to 9.30am. All vehicles and traffic clear of site by 9:30am
  • 10:00am – Event opening – Dean Haley – Welcome and introduces Spirits of the Red Sands
  • 10:10am – Welcome to Country, Smoking Ceremony and Indigenous Dancing – Spirit of the Red Sands 
  • 10:00am – All day hive exhibition in the hall
  • 10:30am – All day – Indigenous Women’s Weaving – Desert Rain Magpie
  • 10:30am – All day Hourly – Doug Irvine Workshops and demonstrations covering: How to bend his hive clips, How to bend roofs, Timber and insulation properties
  • 10:40am – All day – Didgeridoo and Spear making Workshops – Matthew, Kupae and Uncle Glenn Barry
  • 11:00am – Hive Split Demonstration – Ian Driver
  • 11:30am – Honey Collection Demonstration – Glenda and Ed
  • 11:30am & 12:30pm- Princess Bee and the Boy – Matthew and Juliet Middleton
  • 12:00pm – Spear making workshop – Michael Watego
  • 12:00pm – Malaysian Stingless Bee Honey – Adam Hutchinson
  • 1:00pm – Honey Collection Demonstration – Tim Heard
  • 1:00pm – Beeyonce dance – Kit Prendergast
  • 1:10pm – Talk on bee hotels – Kit Prendergast
  • 2:00pm – Hive Split Demonstration – Tim Heard
  • 2:30pm – Hive exhibition – Exhibitors present their entries – in hall
  • 2:30pm – Jaming on the Didgeridoo – Kupae, Matthew and Uncle Glenn Barry
  • 3:15pm – Presentation – Eductions/Budding – Saverio Russo
  • 3:30pm – Presentation – Combining Techniques for Optimal Hive Propagation – Tim Heard
  • 3:45pm – Presentation of prizes – Trevor Weatherhead and Courtney Castles
  • 4:00pm – event close
  • Send any queries to: expo@anba.org.au

Schedule graphic – click to enlarge

Sunday 5th Feb 2023 from 10 am to 4 pm, Bulimba Community Centre, Brisbane
We look forward to seeing all native bee fans at our new event that celebrates native bees in all their manifestations, the Native Bee Expo and Sugarbag Festival. There will bee something for everyone.

Spectators – FREE visitor entry
Novices and experienced alike can learn and share with the expert demonstrators.

Indigenous artists
are invited to perform and display your talents, no limits. So far, we have got dancers opening the event, Max giving a Men’s spear and didj making workshop and Magpie giving a Women’s weaving event. Matthew will be playing his didj and telling his story.

Sponsors / Links
We are grateful to the following for funding this free event; they reached into their pockets so the attendees do not have to. It is not too late to join the Sponsors list which is currently:

Thankyou to all our sponsors

Hive Competition at the Expo

  • Hive drop off from 8am to 9.30am

Get your exhibit ready. A big part of the Expo will be our world famous and renowned Hive Exhibition. To be set up in the Hall, open for the duration of the day, followed by a judging. Native bee keepers are invited to exhibit for free. Please read the details in the next page and let us know if you are bringing something and which of the categories it belongs.

Our hive competition will be a central part of the Expo so is expected to be bigger and better than ever. We want to show-case and promote the diversity and ingenuity of our bee keepers. There are several categories that hives can be entered under. There is also a category for our solitary bees because we simply cannot neglect these important pollinators.
Your entry does not have to be revolutionary, we want all ideas and variations so the public can see the diversity of hives being used in our flourishing activity.

Entry is open to everyone; you do not need to be a member of the ANBA.  Nominate the category, produce a printed description A4 page, and be prepared to describe it verbally to the crowd. It will be safe to leave the hive with the others in the hall.

Sales on the day are welcome. If you are in the market for a new box, looking for better ways of doing things, or just curious, come along and enjoy the friendly but gently competitive nature of this popular Brisbane branch event.

The Rules are:
• Hives can be made of any material and can be any shape or design but must be able to house native bees.
• Hives can be full or empty of actual bees, ideally you have one of each.
• Hives can be standard hives which are painted/ decorated. Fire up your creative side!
• There is no limit to the number of individual entries.

The Categories are:
• People’s choice (secret ballot),
• Judges Choice. Judge yet to be selected,
• Best Paint Job,
• Best Native Bee/ Insect Hotel, (Note there were no entries in this category last year, so could be an easier one to win you prize)
• Best tool, device or accessory.
• Best commercial hive (secret ballot)