SIBA mans the honey booth at the Indiana State Fair

Bring the spirit of the Indiana Beekeeper to the State Fair by taking part in IBA activities at the Fair!

Saturday Aug 3, 2013

Help SIBA help the beekeeping community at large. In return, you also help our bee club. Want to sell your bee products at the State Fair? It could happen. The IBA runs thehoney booth located in the air-conditioned Agriculture building. They have asked SIBA to help out by operating the booth all day on the first Saturday, Aug. 3rd, of the Fair. In return SIBA will receive a cut of the net profits.

If you want to sell honey or other bee-related products, you can bring your own and sell them that day. If you have a lot to sell, you can check in a larger amount to be sold over the 17 day run of the Fair. Prices for every size have been predetermined to make it easy for daily booth staff. See here for the full price list on products sold our of the state fair booth. In short, beekeepers will get a $5 a pound return on 1lb bottles.

Participants get in free! Sadly their vehicles pay $5, car pool. If you wish to sell honey, or other products, you have to join (or be a member of the IBA) $15/individual, $20/family. Debbie Seib showed the nice publications you get when you join as well as a number of other benefits. You get a really nice beekeeping in Indiana book, the IBA roster, the quarterly newsletter and you are added to  the swarm, local honey, and cutout list. What we need; 12 people, 6 per shift. First shift starts at 9 am till 3 pm. Second starts at 3pm and runs to 9. There is no cash register. Money is carried in aprons. Quarters are the smallest change given. We don’t do inventory. 20 minutes breaks are planned for.

Folks at the last club meeting have jumped all over the first shift. The first shift (9am-3pm) is FULL. WE need help on second. If we can fill the second shift, the deal is on.

The Indiana State Fair continues to be the one event which brings families together to experience the very best of Indiana! With 17 days of entertainment, exhibits and delicious food spread out over 250 acres – there truly is FUN AT EVERY TURN!

How long has it been since you went? Have you ever attended the Indiana State Fair? For those thinking of second shift, leave home by noon if you just pla to work the booth. If you want to venture around the fair, leave earlier. You can get just about anything on a stick to eat at the Fair. The sit down steak and pork dinners are found between the stock barns and the show stands. That’s about a five minute walk from the Ag. building. Debbie Seib has a big house on the south side of Indy if you want to stay overnight. If you go straight home you’ll be home around midnight.

Come on out, it is light work, but it is fun and the rewards will find both you and our club. We have some very energetic people heading up, and this will be the first time that SIBA has joined other clubs around the state to man the state fair booth. You’re very likely to re-meet someone you haven’t seen for a long time. We might find it enough fun that we do it year after year.

As a participant you can...

  • Talk beekeeping with fair goers
  • Work and have fun doing it!!!
  • Assist in booth operations
  • Sample and sell IBA members hive products
  • Get a free up-front pass for admission to the Fair
  • Find a Queen in the observation hive
  • Meet and visit with other beekeepers
  • See the State Fair
  • Sell honey Ice Cream
  • Bring your honey and hive products to sell

Honey and hive products with your own label can be brought to sell at the fair.

  • Honey must be from Indiana based hives.
  • Labels must have name, weights and contact information on them.
  • Producers take total responsibility for warranty/ complaints of their products.
  • Honey must be main sweetener in all.
  • Bring an extra bottle of honey to be used for taste testing.

Financial

  • 10% goes to State Fair
  • 80% of sales goes to the beekeeper, if they work one shift during fair or setup.
  • (75% of sales goes to the beekeeper, if they do not work.)
  • 10% goes to IBA (50% clubs working per day, 30 % IBA treasury and 20% Young Beekeeper Fund)

SIBA Coordinators
(helping to get 12 people from our club to man the booth at the fair for one day, Sat. Aug. 3)

Folks at the last club meeting have jumped all over the first shift. The first shift (9am-3pm) is FULL. WE still need help on the second (3pm-9pm) shift. If we can fill the second shift, the deal is on. If you are interested in either shift, let us know. In the event someone falls through, perhaps a spot will open up. Help us put SIBA on the state map!

For more information contact

  • Judy Truax 765-282-4197 (home), 765-729-3476 (cell), email
  • Mike Seib 317-432-5342 (cell), email

Information about the fair, product, pricing, directions, etc.

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