Asheville Honeyfest brings pollinator education, local food to Highland Brewing

Honeyfest turned Highland Brewing’s Meadow into a free showcase for pollinator education, honey tastings and local food on Sunday, June 7. Asheville’s 5th Annual Honey Festival drew families, beekeepers, vendors and curious neighbors to the brewery’s outdoor space, giving a public stage to a subject that shapes gardens, farms and the region’s food supply.

Hosted with the Center for Honeybee Research, the festival ran from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy, Asheville, NC 28803. The event was billed as family-friendly and free to attend, a choice that helped make bee awareness feel less like a specialized topic and more like a community outing. Organizers paired live music with food trucks and vendor stalls, building the kind of casual setting where people could learn about pollinators without stepping into a lecture hall.

The festival also gave local producers and makers a direct connection to customers. Listings said attendees could sample and purchase local and international honeys, alongside artisanal goods from vendors and information from organizations focused on pollinator and environmental protection. Asheville.com described the gathering as bringing together local beekeepers, artisans, educators and musicians, underscoring how Honeyfest blends agriculture, small business and public education in one place.

That mix matters in Buncombe County, where pollinators support the backyard gardens, farmers market produce and crops that feed the local economy. By putting honey and bee education in a popular public venue, Honeyfest translated a conservation issue into something residents could see, taste and talk about in real time. It also fit Highland Brewing’s role as a community gathering place, with the Meadow used regularly for public events beyond beer service.

The festival arrived with broader local resonance as well. WLOS tagged its Honeyfest coverage with references to Helene, native bees and community hives, a reminder that pollinator health, environmental recovery and neighborhood resilience are intertwined in Asheville. For a city that leans on its maker culture, its outdoor spaces and its local food scene, Honeyfest offered a small but visible snapshot of how civic life can grow around the health of the landscape itself.