News

Friends of honeybee launch mural campaign

By Lightning Reports, Published: October 31, 2019

Friends of the honeybee have launched a campaign to raise $25,000 for a bee mural downtown.

Wine Sage and Gourmet, 416 N. Main Street, will donate 10 percent of sales during the 359 Club (a social gathering open to the public with beer and wine sold by the glass) to help fund the “bee mural” downtown from 3:59 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1. In addition, 10 percent of the entire day’s sales from the cellar as well as the kitchen and gourmet shop upstairs will be donated to help fund the mural.
At Sideways Farm & Brewery, 62 Eade Road (off Old Highway 64) in Etowah, during the entire month of November all tips received will be donated to the mural project. Sideways will be featuring their Small Batch #54 Light Honey Ale, a light ale fermented with local wildflower honey. The brewery is one of the few breweries in the nation using honey instead of corn sugar to add carbonation to their bottles of small batch artisan brews.
The fundraising project for the “Bring the Hive Alive” mural was kicked off in June during Hendersonville’s Pollinator Month, which is part of the city’s Bee City USA program. Community supporters have raised more than $9,000 through events like Bee Bold Pollinator Festival at Bold Rock Hard Cider in Mills River and informational exhibits at Garden Jubilee, Monarch Day and Farm City Day. The goal is $25,000.
The larger-than-life bee mural will be painted on the exterior wall at Hands On! Children’s Museum, facing the Azalea parking lot in downtown Hendersonville (along King Street between Third and Fourth avenues). This project helps extend the museum’s mission of inspiring creativity and wonder through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) to the entire community, and adds to the art appeal of downtown’s ArtScape banners, colorful bears, and the large handsome mosaic nature scene … all of which make downtown Hendersonville a family-friendly arts destination. It also gives a significant nod to our community’s agricultural businesses, acknowledging that honey bees and other pollinators are important to the region’s economy and heritage.
Artist Matthew Willey, a 25-year veteran of mural painting, will be hired to paint the mural. He founded the Good of the Hive as a personal commitment to hand-paint 50,000 honey bees in murals around the world.
The goal is to have raised at least $12,500 by the end of the year in order to pay the 50 percent deposit, sign the contract with the muralist and hopefully get on the artist’s painting schedule for 2020. Hands On! Children’s Museum is hosting an online crowd-funding campaign with rewards donated by local organizations and businesses. Supporter levels range from $25 to $100 and include thank-you gifts such as jars of local honey from the Henderson County Beekeepers Association, stickers from The Good of the Hive, honey bee window clings from Hendersonville’s Bee City USA affiliate, and enrollment in the “How to Grow a Pollinator Café” online course.
To donate visit www.handsonwnc.org/hive. Checks can be written to Hands On! (write “bee mural” in the info line) and mailed to Hands On Children’s Museum, 318 North Main St., Hendersonville, NC 28792, or dropped off at Hands On!