October is abuzz with bee events

KELOWNA – Participants can help designer Evan Hutchinson build a home for pollinators. Many solitary bees and other insects live in bee hotels all over the world. Hutchinson is building a hotel that will be permanently placed at Kelowna’s Brent’s Grist Mill Heritage site as part of The Public Art Pollinator Pasture project.

This family-friendly event is held in conjunction with the exhibition For All is For Yourself. On October 1, the public is also invited to participate in an open mic at 1:30 p.m. Local writers and bee-lovers are invited to come and share their pollinator poetry.

What: Making Insect Hotels
Who: UBC Okanagan and Kelowna Art Gallery Culture Days
When: Saturday, October 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Kelowna Art Gallery, 1315 Water Street

Recognized as one of the world’s leading expert on bees and pollination Mark Winston, believes humans can learn a lot from the bees in terms of building a balanced community.

The public is invited to hear Winston’s talk and a reading from his book, the Governor General’s award-winning Bee Time: Lessons From the Hive. This event is free, and open to the public, but preregistration is required.

These events are free and take place in the front project space of the Kelowna Art Gallery.

People interested in weeding, seeding, constructing insect hotels and planting the pollinator pasture should contact the project coordinator at ecoartokanagan@gmail.com or UBC Assoc. Prof. Nancy Holmes at nancy.holmes@ubc.ca or 250-807-9369.

What: What We Can Learn From Bees
Who: Mark Winston, one of the world’s leading bee expert
When: Thursday, October 6 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Kelowna Art Gallery, 1315 Water Street