Grand Old Days
The Macalester College booth at Grand Old Days was bustling with people curious about the beehive sitting on the table. A wide audience ranging from young children to our older neighbors were drawn to the buzz that also included music from the Steam Machine band featuring alumna Rina Rossi ‘05, button making and hula hooping.
Macalester Sustainability Office student Miriam Eide ‘20 connected with families in discussing the importance of protecting our communities and fostering future generations. While hunting for the queen bee in a demonstration hive lent to Macalester College by alumna Erin Rupp ‘04, Miriam engaged in conversations about fostering the bee community in our area and the Macalester efforts to support pollinators. Erin Rupp manages the Macalester beehives at Macalester’s Katharine Ordway Field Station in addition to running Pollinate Minnesota, which she founded in 2015. Pollinate Minnesota is a “honey bee education and advocacy organization” which educates students about bees, builds hives in community spaces, and conducts pollinator advocacy initiatives (Erin Rupp).
In 2018, the office developed the Macalester Pollinator Path, which is a series of pollinator-friendly gardens on campus designed to promote the health and study of pollinator activity. The path is an educational effort started because in 2016, Macalester College became the first designated neonicotinoid-free campus in MN by the BEE Protective Campaign lead by Center for Food Safety and Beyond Pesticides.
Urban sustainability is a community effort and, through outreach at events such as Grand Old Days, Macalester connects with neighbors to have meaningful conversations about urban sustainability and provide fun activities for adults and children. Many community members who stopped by at the event spoke of their own pollinator-friendly gardens or their interest in creating one. Collaborations with nearby communities and colleges, such as St Thomas, have resulted in an expansion in pollinator-friendly gardens throughout the neighborhood.
Urban sustainability is a community effort and, through outreach at events such as Grand Old Days, Macalester connects with neighbors to have meaningful conversations about urban sustainability and provide fun activities for adults and children. Many community members who stopped by at the event spoke of their own pollinator-friendly gardens or their interest in creating one. Collaborations with nearby communities and colleges, such as St Thomas, have resulted in an expansion in pollinator-friendly gardens throughout the neighborhood.
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