JEANERETTE, La. — The first-ever Honey Harvest Festival is coming to downtown Jeanerette on Saturday, bringing together local vendors, family activities, and honey products rooted in the area's beekeeping community.
The event draws from the beekeeping operation at Albania Mansion and is designed to give residents a reason to gather and connect.
What to expect at the festival
Organizers say the festival will include activities for children, homemade honey treats such as cookies, honey butter, and honey popcorn, as well as merchandise.
"We have become a local honey spot, a sweet spot, as we like to call it, where they come from all over Franklin, New Iberia, and through Lafayette just to pick up Albania local honey and some other beekeepers locally," said Holly Royston, an organizer with the Jeanerette Honey Harvest Festival.
Vendors and community collaboration
Royston said local vendors played a hands-on role in bringing the event together, contributing to promotion and logistics.
"All the vendors, they all have a hand in it from making flyers, copying, posting them downtown to getting us extra paint for the kids to paint to great ideas that we didn't even know we needed," Royston said. "Without them, I don't think any of this vision could come to life."
A focus on community unity
Organizers said the goal of the festival extends beyond showcasing honey products.
"We think the best way to bring unity and a community together is to start doing events and just let them come, because we'll welcome everybody," Royston said.
The Honey Harvest Festival begins at 1 p.m. Saturday. Organizers said they hope the event becomes an annual tradition.
