The Honey Festival will return in 2025, “to attract even more people from Alès”

The second edition of the Alès Honey Festival took place at the cultural and scientific center of Rochebelle. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

La deuxième édition de la Fête du miel d'Alès s'est déroulée au pôle culturel et scientifique de Rochebelle. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

La deuxième édition de cette manifestation, organisée ce dimanche 22 septembre, au pôle culturel et scientifique de Rochebelle, a pâti des mauvaises conditions météorologiques.

This Sunday, September 22, around 2:30 p.m., people are crowding around the stands set up in the courtyard of the Rochebelle cultural and scientific center. This, despite the bad weather conditions! Certainly, the second edition of the Honey and Beehive Products Festival in Alès did not have the success of last year's event, which took place under bright sunshine, or even heat, but Anne-Laure Guirao, "pleasantly surprised", notes that attendance was good during the morning.

The organizers have adapted

And even if the facilitator of the Qualité des miels d'Occitanie group, also responsible for the mission for the association for the development of beekeeping in Occitanie, concedes that the exhibitors were going to fold earlier than expected, she points out that the entire program for this Sunday was maintained. “We adapted with what was possible”, she explains. “We filmed on the site ; we reduced the frequencies.” Thus, the conference, show and workshop were able to be held in the auditorium. The honey extraction took place in the laboratory, etc.

Addressing schoolchildren again

The organization of this event is now looking to 2025. “Of course there will be a third edition”, says Anne-Laure Guirao. She even adds that it will prove to be “more special”, that we will “renew ourselves to attract more and more people from Alès. To introduce them to beekeeping…” The Honey Festival should also turn, upstream, once again towards schoolchildren, as was the case at the end of the week. For good reason, as the presenter says, “they are the consumers of tomorrow".