Name: Oregon Honey & Mead Festival
Start: 2024-09-21T11:00:00-07:00
End: 2024-09-21T17:00:00-07:00
Location: EdenVale Winery

Taste the sweetness of Oregon honey and mead!The Oregon Honey and Mead Festival is an annual celebration of pollinators and agriculture that takes place Saturday, September 21 from 11-5 at Edenvale winery in Medford and is a fundraiser that supports education for kids and veterans.
Festival guests should prepare to be delighted by the beauty of one of Southern Oregon's most historic wineries. Located in the rolling hills of Medford, minutes from highway 99 and Rogue Valley International Airport (MFR), Edenvale is family friendly with plenty of space to walk the grounds around the mansion, enjoy music and sample honey while 21+ may sample and purchase mead. Guests will park and enter at Edenvale's south entrance.
Starting at 11-12:30 there will be music by Shybo and the Twisted Vines, 12:30-1:30 Jen Ambrose, , 1:30-3 Eight Dollar Mountain and 3:30-5:00 Chasing Keridwyn, in the main tent where mead can be sampled or purchased.
Invited speakers include Marla Bull Bear, Founder of the Lakota Honey Lodge , Dr.Dewey Caron, Emeritus Professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at University of Delaware and Affiliate Professor, Department of Horticulture at OSU, Annelia Hillman, Food Village Coordinator of the Yurok Tribe's Food Sovereignty Program and Dr. Ramesh Sagili, Associate Professor of Apiculture at OSU College of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Horticulture.
There is no better place for such a celebration than Jackson County, Oregon which became GMO free in 2014. Mead, the drink of the ancient Vikings is the product of fermented honey that 21+ guests may choose to sample or purchase. At the Festival the invited mead and honey producers bring their talents to the table along with principles of earth science, biology, botany and history. These meaderies include Oran Môr Artisan Meadery, Siskiyou Meadery and Lazy Z Ranch.
Guests may learn about heritage grains with Farmer Chris Hardy or attend lectures in the mansion to learn about pollinators, aspects of honey production, native plants, research findings on honey bee health, youth involvement in tribal beekeeping, soil, seed, healthy flower forage and other components of habitat health. Children may learn by attending story time with the Story Telling Guild, crafting at the Farm Bus Bistro, participating in pollinator drawing, by interacting with the beekeepers and their observation hive or Rogue Valley Farm2School. There will be prizes for up and coming young artists and each child will receive a passport to help them learn about pollinators which exhibitors will stamp upon request.
There will be art exhibits, native plant education and sales with Jackson County Master Gardeners and Cornucopia Acres, talks, honey sampling, honey for purchase, kids' activities and more. Edenvale chefs will prepare foods for purchase and the Edenvale Tasting Room will also be open and serving dishes such as Goat Cheese and Hot Honey, Sous Vide Beef, Charcuterie or Fruit Boards and soft drinks or adult beverages.
The Cascade Girl Organization is a 501(c)3 nonprofit the mission of which is to educate people about food system pollinators of the Cascade region and their impact on planetary survival via science, culture and the arts. The Festival is a fundraiser for the Cascade Girl Organization's programs for kids and for veterans.
At it's heart, the Oregon Honey & Mead Festival is a celebration of apiculture and agriculture, toasting the work of all farmers and agricultural pollinators! Tickets are available for preorder and at the door, suggested donation, $20 per adult. Kids attend free.