Beekeepers, animal lovers and spinners flock to the Oregon State Fair

Oregon State Fair Bonnie King, the activities chair of the Oregon State Beekeepers Association, shows off some of the tools of the beekeeper’s trade at the Oregon State Fair. Aaron Woods of Creswell said he particularly likes the suits. "I've been stung so many times, oh my goodness, but you feel invincible when you're in those suits," he said. (Tom Henderson/Tom Henderson/For The Oregonian)

People flock to the annual Oregon State Fair in Salem for so many reasons.

Some come to show their 4-H and FFA projects. Some come to promote a product, hobby or cause. Many people just come for the sheer fun of it all.

Part of that fun, for a lot of people, is a visit to the bee side. The Oregon State Beekeepers Association has been generating buzz at the fairgrounds in Salem for the past 50 years.

“It’s a very popular site for people to visit so they can say hello to the bees close up,” said Bonnie King of Salem, the activities chair of the association. “Everyone has a bee story. It’s so fun to listen to everyone. It’s really busy around here.”

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The 100-year-old association’s exhibit, located this year in the fairgrounds’ Floral Building, gives visitors a chance to see the inner workings of a hive. Not to worry, King said. The bees are all under glass.

Beekeepers bring honey and bee-themed artwork. They also hand out information and sticks of honey. “Hopefully, we’re creating a whole new generation of beekeepers,” King said. “We need to keep honeybees a viable resource in our world. The more beekeepers, the better.”

As important as bees’ pollination role is to the ecosystem, they face tremendous peril.

“We’ve had a lot of struggles with bees over the past 30 years or so,” King said. “Colony Collapse Disorder is a big problem. People go out to their hives, and the bees are gone. Luckily, it has decreased over the years. It’s not as big of a threat right now, but we never know if that risk is going to pop up’ again.”

One of the bigger menaces that bees face is varroa mites. Also more dramatically known as the varroa destructor, the tiny creature is an external parasite that attacks and feeds on honeybees.

“They are a terrible, insidious little creature that gets into the cells of the bees when they’re growing and feeds on them even after they hatch,” King said. “And of course, the bees die. It can lead to a whole hive dying.”

Carol Pallett of Banks, who serves on the board of the Tualatin Valley Beekeepers Association, wishes she knew more about the parasites when she and her husband inherited his father’s three hives from Washington state in 2020.

“We brought them home and knew absolutely nothing about taking care of bees,” Pallett said. “I was actually scared to death of them. We just got the suits and started learning. We actually kept them alive through the winter, but we lost them soon thereafter.”

She enrolled in a master beekeeper program and joined clubs like the state association. “I feel like the more I learn, the less I know,” she said. “I’m now thinking about writing a book titled ‘1,001 Mistakes I Made in Beekeeping.’”

The association is here to help, King said.

“We hope everyone who wants to have bees as a true interest will come talk to us so they can get advice and join the club -- getting a lot of beekeepers involved in their operations and their hopes and dreams,” she said. “It helps to have kinship like that. It doesn’t cost anything just to attend a meeting.”

People don’t necessarily have to be interested in raising bees themselves, King added.

“For people who might not be interested in getting up close and personal with bees, we have a lot of suggestions for having bee-loving plants in your backyard, putting out water with rocks or marbles in it,” she said. “Bees are attracted to water that’s safe and not your kids’ swimming pool.”

Adalynn Kibler is not a bee person. The 4-H member from Turner came to enter the dairy goats she raises in the fair’s livestock competitions.

Her mother, Kandace Kibler, said the family doesn’t raise livestock.

“She picked it up on her own,” she said. “She started with two goats about three years ago. Then she decided to get into breeding and milking them. She started looking at genetics and different pedigrees. She just kind of runs it all. She milks seven goats twice a day by hand.”

At 15 , her daughter is very committed to her herd, Kandace said. “It’s very rewarding to see her progress and where she’s come over the last three years with her goats. It’s just an honor to be her mom.”

Adalynn became interested in raising dairy goats as pets. “We had a lot of brush on our farm,” she said. “I wanted an animal that I could use to clear brush and also produce milk and that I could show for 4-H. Then I got more into the dairy goat business.”

She added dairy goats have many advantages. “What I like about dairy goats is they’re small,” she said. “I can keep them year-round. I don’t have to sell them for market. They’re still useful for milk production.”

Aya Tollefson of Klamath County brought Drama and Mama Drama, her mother-and daughter Saanen goats, to the fair. “I love Saanen goats,” said Tollefson, 15. “They’re so white and beautiful.”

Saanen is a Swiss breed of domestic goat. It takes its name from the Saanental in the Bernese Oberland, in the southern part of the Canton of Bern in western Switzerland.

Mama Drama was born in 2020, and Drama was born in 2022. For some reason, Tollefson said, Mama Drama becomes quite the extrovert during the fair. She sticks her nose outside her pen to greet visitors. “She’s like a completely different goat here,” she said.

The fair is definitely exciting, Adalynn Kibler said. “As the fair approaches, my nerves will start to build up,” she said. “I get a little excited. I’m like, ‘Oh, yay, it’s going to be a week of fun.’ I probably spend three days, three solid days, in the barn working toward the fair.”

Her mother Kandace said the fair is the height of the 4-H year. “She’s definitely been working all year, starting with the last fair, right up until this point,” she said.

While young people like Tollefson and Kibler are showing their animals, Andra Vlatvin of Portland came to the fair to remind people to treat animals with kindness.

She demonstrates spinning with the Portland Handweavers Guild, specifically the Ethical Yarn Community she recently founded.

“We’re trying to use wool and yarn either second-hand or taken from animals in an ethical way that really takes care of them and prioritizes them as part of the process,” Vlatvin said. “We also want to think about how to do things in a sustainable way.”

Vlatvin came to the fair with fellow Portland spinners Danielle Hinz and Alisha Kyal. All three of them said they were introduced to spinning by working in crochet and other fiber arts.

“I really wanted to learn the whole process,” Hinz said.

“I was crocheting a lot and realized a lot of the yarn is synthetic and imported,” Vlatvin said. “I thought maybe I needed to get sheep, but I don’t have enough land for sheep, so I got bunnies. This was in 2020, so I had a lot of time.

“From there, I realized there’s a lot more than goes into it than having the fiber and a spinning wheel,” she said. “You need a lot of processing equipment. Then I got curious about how to make it accessible to other people.”

Making her craft accessible is a big reason behind her involvement with the Oregon State Beekeepers Association, King said.

“Getting more people involved with beekeeping will protect bees,” she said. “The more that people know, even if they don’t have bees themselves, it will help the bee population overall.”

King is one of those people who doesn’t have bees.

She was born into beekeeping. Her late father operated 4,500 bee colonies near Dundee from the ‘60s through the early ‘80s. Her mother continues to sell honey. “I just call myself a beekeeper’s daughter,” King said. “I know more than a lot of people. It’s just part of my life.”

Her role at the fair includes overseeing the rules of the honey competition, although she doesn’t serve as a judge. Honey is judged on clarity, taste, bubbles, moisture and taste. “It’s a very time-consuming judging process to go through, but it’s very validating for Oregon beekeepers,” King said.

For everyone from the 4-H and FFA students to the beekeepers, spinners, quilters, authors, collectors, farmers, florists and fun-seekers, King said the state fair is a social event whose importance cannot be overstated.

For families like hers, she said, the fair is a tradition. “Every year of my life until I was 18, I was at the state fair for the duration, so I just feel like I’m home being here,” King said. “This is just a natural fit.”

IF YOU GO

The Oregon State Fair continues 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily through Monday, Sept. 4, at the Oregon State Fairgrounds, 2330 17th St. N.E., Salem. Admission is $12 for visitors ages 13 to 64, $10 for children ages 6 to 12, free for children under 5 and $3 for senior citizens 65 or older. (Various daily promotions and discounts may apply.) Parking is $5. Concert tickets sold separately. Information: oregonstatefair.org or 971-701-6573.