Rhea County Bee Club

08/12/2026

🎉🐝 Kids Night at the Rhea County Fair is Here! 🐝🎉

Bring the whole family to the RCBA (Rhea County Beekeepers Association) booth at the Honey House for an evening of hands-on fun and bee adventures!

🌼 Kids Make-and-Take Crafts
Children can create a fun bee-themed wind chime craft to take home as a special keepsake!

🐝 The Great Bee Journey
Can you complete all 5 Bee Challenges?

Young beekeepers will:
👑 Find the Queen Bee
🌸 Help pollinate flowers
🔍 Discover amazing bee facts
💃 Learn the famous Waggle Dance
🎯 Complete all challenges and earn a prize from our treasure box! 🏆

Lets have fun and learn about the bees! 🎉🐝

📅 TODAY – Kids Night at Rhea Co. Fair
🕔 5:00 - 9:00 pm
📍 334 Eagle Lane, Evensville

We can’t wait to welcome all of our future beekeepers! 🍯💛🐝

The Rhea County Fair
Rhea County Beekeepers Association

08/11/2026

📣🐝 Reminder, RCBA Members! 🐝📣

There will be NO monthly Rhea County Beekeepers Association meeting this month due to the Rhea County Fair.

Instead, we hope you’ll come visit and support RCBA throughout the week at the fair!

🍯 Stop by the Honey House to sample local honey, learn more about beekeeping, chat with fellow beekeepers, and shop local vendors.

🏆 Check out the Honey Show and all of the amazing entries showcasing our member’s honey, beeswax creations, photography, arts & crafts, baked goods, painted hive boxes, and more!

🎉 Be sure to join us for Kids Night on Wednesday, where we’ll be hosting bee-themed make-and-take crafts and our brand new Great Bee Journey 🐝 An interactive adventure where kids complete five bee challenges to earn their Official Junior Beekeeper Prize! 🐝

Thank you for supporting RCBA and the Rhea County Fair. We look forward to seeing everyone at the fair and then back at our next monthly meeting!

Rhea County Beekeepers Association

08/11/2026

⏰🐝 Last Call for Honey Show Entries! 🐝⏰

Today is your LAST DAY to drop off your entries for the Rhea County Fair Honey Show & Contest!

If you’ve been putting the finishing touches on your honey, beeswax, photography, artwork, baked goods, painted hive box, or other bee-inspired creations 🙌🏼 now’s the time to bring them in!

🏆 Categories include:
🍯 Honey
🕯️ Beeswax
🎨 Arts & Crafts
📸 Photography
🥧 Baked Goods & Food Items
🎨 Painted Hive Boxes
🔧 Beekeeping Gadgets & Inventions
…and more!

📅 Entry Drop-Off: TODAY (12:00-6:00pm)
📍 Drop-Off Location: Fair Grounds Honey House
🏅 Judging: Wednesday at the Rhea County Fair
🖤 Black Jar Judging: Saturday at RC Fair

☎️ Contact RCBA President, John Garrison, for any questions or more info: 423-775-8340

We’d love to see a strong showing from our RCBA members and our local community. Good luck to everyone entering, and thank you for sharing your creativity, craftsmanship, and passion for beekeeping! 🐝💛🍯

08/05/2026

🎨🐝 Calling All Creative Minds! 🐝🎨

Did you know the Rhea County Fair Honey Show isn’t just for honey? We have several creative categories where you can showcase your talent and your love for bees!

Whether you’re an artist, photographer, baker, crafter, woodworker, or maker, we’d love to see your creations entered in this year’s Honey Show!

✨ Creative Categories Include:
🎨 Bee Arts & Crafts
📸 Photography
🥧 Baked Goods & Food Items
🐝 Painted Hive Boxes
🔧 Beekeeping Gadgets & Inventions

Need some inspiration? Consider entering:
🖌️ Paintings or drawings
🧶 Crochet or knitted bees
🪡 Quilts, blankets, or sewing projects
🎭 Mixed media artwork
🪵 Woodworking or carved pieces
🕯️ Handmade bee-themed decor
🍪 Honey cookies, cakes, breads, candies, or other delicious treats
📷 Beautiful photos of bees, flowers, hives, or beekeeping
🎨 Creative painted hive boxes
💡 Innovative beekeeping tools, gadgets, or inventions

📅 Turn in your contest items and art work at the Honey House on the following days:

Saturday the 8th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Tuesday the 11th from 12:00 to 5:00 pm

🏆 Judging takes place Wednesday during the Rhea County Fair, so now is the perfect time to finish those projects and get your entries ready!

This is a wonderful opportunity to share your creativity, celebrate our local beekeeping community, and maybe even take home a ribbon! 🏅

☎️ Reach out if you have any questions, or call John Garrison, our RCBA President.

We can’t wait to see the incredible talent our community brings to this year’s Honey Show! 🍯🐝

Rhea County Beekeepers Association

08/04/2026

🏆 Showcase Your Beekeeping Talent at the Rhea County Fair Honey Show! 🐝🍯

Whether you’re a seasoned beekeeper or just love creating bee-inspired art, there’s a category for you in this year’s Rhea County Fair Honey Show!

Entries are welcome in the following categories:

🍯 Extracted Honey (light, medium, dark)
🍯 Black Jar Honey (judged on taste only)
🍯 Creamed Honey
🍯 Chunk Honey
🍯 Comb Honey
🖼️ Unextracted Honey Frames
🕯️ Beeswax Blocks
🕯️ Beeswax Candles & Sculptures
🎨 Bee Arts & Crafts
📸 Photography
🥧 Baked Goods & Food Items
🎨 Painted Hive Boxes
🔧 Beekeeping Gadgets & Inventions

📅 Turn in your honey and contest items at the Honey House on the following days:

Saturday the 8th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Tuesday the 11th from 12:00 to 5:00 pm

🏆 Judging for all categories (except Black Jar) takes place on Wednesday, August 12th during the Rhea County Fair!

🖤 Black Jar Honey judging will take place on Saturday, August 15th during the Fair!

This is a wonderful opportunity to share your hard work, creativity, and passion for beekeeping while celebrating our local beekeeping community. Whether you’re entering your best honey, a favorite photo, a handmade beeswax candle, or a creative hive box, we’d love to see your entries!

If you’ve never entered before, this is the perfect year to give it a try. We encourage beekeepers and bee enthusiasts of all ages to participate.

📞 Contact us for more information, any questions, and to register.

We hope to see lots of RCBA members represented in this year’s Honey Show. Good luck to everyone entering! 🐝🍯

05/20/2026

🌍🐝 Happy World Bee Day! 🐝🌍

Today we celebrate the tiny pollinators that make a HUGE impact on our world 💛

From the flowers we enjoy to many of the foods we eat, bees play a vital role in supporting our ecosystems, agriculture, and communities 🌼🍓🍯

At Rhea County Beekeepers Association, we’re proud to support local beekeepers, educate our community, and help protect pollinators right here in Rhea County 🐝✨

Today is a great reminder that even small actions can help bees thrive:
🌸 Plant pollinator-friendly flowers
🚫 Avoid harmful pesticides
🍯 Support local beekeepers
🐝 Protect swarms whenever possible

Thank you to all the beekeepers, pollinator lovers, and bee supporters helping make a difference every day 💛

05/14/2026

🐝🛠️ RCBA Swarm Saver Shoutout! 🛠️🐝

We want to give a HUGE thank you to Rick Sharpe and Harold Nail for all the incredible work they’ve been doing this swarm season helping with bee swarms and cut-outs throughout our community 💛

So far this season, they have successfully completed five swarm/cut-out removals, including one that became a hands-on group demonstration for Rhea County Beekeepers Association members to learn from 🐝✨

From climbing high spaces to helping safely relocate colonies, these guys have gone above and beyond to help protect pollinators and support our local community.

🐝💛 THANK YOU, Rick and Harold, for your time, knowledge, hard work, and willingness to answer the call when bees need saving!

🤔 Interested in helping save swarms too?

RCBA is always looking for members who want to become part of our Swarm Savers Team and learn more about swarm collection and bee removals.

📩 If you’d like to get involved, or if you have a swarm or bee removal need, message us here or contact Rick Sharpe at 423-240-1650 for assistance.

Every swarm safely relocated is thousands of bees given a second chance 🌼🐝

05/13/2026

We had a wonderful evening at last night’s Rhea County Beekeepers Association meeting filled with learning, fellowship, great food, and community 🍯✨

A huge thank you to Dr. Larry Millet for his thought-provoking presentation and for sharing his knowledge and perspective on hive health, and the future of honey bees. We truly appreciate the time and expertise he shared with our club last night! 🐝📚

🍽️ Thank you as well to everyone who brought food for our potluck dinner. Sharing meals together is one of our favorite parts of RCBA meetings!

And a special shoutout to Amanda Westfall for the AMAZING homemade chocolate cake 🎂 Was definitely a crowd favorite! 💛

🎁 We’d also like to thank everyone who contributed raffle and giveaway items for tonight’s meeting:

🌸 Jonathan Jouben- for the beautiful flowers
🖼️ Stephanie Gose and Kellye Bishop- for the wax frames
🐝 Andrea Porter- for the bee pillow cover
🥚 Tim Abbey- for the fresh eggs

Your generosity helps make our meetings fun, welcoming, and memorable for everyone who attends 💛

We are so thankful for this growing community of beekeepers, families, and pollinator supporters. Nights like this remind us how special RCBA truly is 🐝✨

05/11/2026