I organized a community social at Gates Park in Port Coquitlam and invited a local beekeeper Taura Rieu to come speak more about the importance of the bees to our ecosystem and the role that wildflowers play in helping them.
Utilizing Facebook, I created a public event open to everyone in the community and we shared the event with our neighbourhood groups & mom groups. There was definitely lots of interest by garden/eco enthusiasts as well as parents with young children – 25 people had RSVP’d.
Each attendee to RSVP by the Sunday before the event would receive a peat pot, hand shovel and wildflower seed paper confetti so I purchased all these before the event itself. I also picked up some sitting mats for the ground.
The challenge I faced leading up to the event was that I am 37 weeks pregnant and some issues arose that I had to see my doctor last minute during the time of the event itself.
At this point I figured that postponing the event would probably mean to push it 2-3months away (if the baby came out) and that’s past bee/wildflower season. I discussed with Taura, the beekeeper and enlisted the help of Mary, my cousin who is just as passionate about being active in the community to push the event forward.
Taura came with her hive as well as a lot of educational posters she made and Mary really made the event feel casual and inviting.
Sadly I wasn’t able to attend as my doctors appointment ran over the event time. It looked like a great social from the photos. I also posted in the Facebook event after to let the attendees know that I was unfortunately able to make it due to my pregnancy issue. It seemed to be well received.
What I learned in putting this community event together was that I really needed to consider timing. I think I rushed to put this on to hold it in the ‘right’ season but didn’t consider my own personal situation. Also, it really makes a difference when you find the right people to help facilitate your event.
Here’s a link to photos and a video from the event: https://bit.ly/3MvcJGg
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