Norm Holcomb is excited to teach patrons of the Maple Valley Farmers Market about bees this summer.

Holcomb, owner of Bees in the Burbs in Maple Valley, will bring a demonstration beehive to the market, which kicks off its 17-week season Saturday at 9 a.m. at Rock Creek Elementary.

“I took it to the Kent Market last Saturday, and boy, it was a big hit,” Holcomb said. “I would say over one-third of our sales were due to that beehive. People would see the beehive then stop and talk about it, especially the kids.”

The educational opportunity is hard to pass up, Holcomb said, and he plans to bring the demonstration hive to the market as long as the bees can handle it and he can keep them healthy.

Market Manager Victoria Jonas wrote in an email interview that the demonstration beehive is a perfect fit for the market.

“It will become one more added and important attraction that makes our Farmers Market so special,” Jonas wrote. “It will become a natural conversation piece, I can only imagine the buzz of curiosity and conversations that will occur around the beehive! Bringing a live beehive to our market embraces the core foundation of our Farmers Market’s mission of providing a avenue for educational learning on the benefits of sustainable local food systems and developing healthy communities.”

It also is an opportunity to introduce market patrons to folks like Holcomb, who are producing items to sell at the market right in their own backyard.

Holcomb opened his store just off Maple Valley Highway south of Four Corners about a year ago. Before that he worked out of a trailer part-time. He decided to turn the beekeeping and honey into sales after he realized it was time to leave the construction industry due to medical issues.

He was first introduced to beekeeping when he was a child and there was a neighborhood beehive.

“I was comfortable with it already,” Holcomb said. “I decided about six years ago I wanted to teach my kids about it. I have about 40 to 50 hives now, some here at the store and some at home. I’ve been an ironworker my whole life, so, I’ve always done something on the edge anyhow.”

This will be the third season for Bees in the Burbs at the Farmers Market, which is in its fifth year, where he sells raw, all natural, locally made honey. He may even have some freshly harvested honey in the first week or two of the Maple Valley market.

Bees in the Burbs is a small family business, Holcomb explained, run by himself, his wife and two daughters, who do a fair amount of demonstrations and educational talks. The plan this year is to vend at the Maple Valley and Kent markets, which Holcomb said should keep them pretty busy.

Another element of beehives for the Maple Valley market this year will be a beehive box.

Holcomb gathered the materials together and donated it to the market so it can be decorated then displayed for some time before it goes to a farmer in the region who will use it to start a hive.

That’s something Holcomb is passionate about: teaching people how to get started.

“My main thing is to help people get through (starting a beehive) a lot easier than I did,” he said.

Jonas wrote that the demonstration hive may just entice customers to try their hand at beekeeping. In any event, the experience adds so much to the market, she wrote.

“Last year when Norm donated a beehive box to our Farmers Market and then this year, when he suggested that we partner in bringing a demonstration beehive to the market, I was eager to make it happen,” Jonas wrote. “I was thrilled to offer up this amazing experience to our Farmers Market customers and particularly to our younger generation of customers. As our market season quickly approaches, we will have a new hand-painted beehive box for an added visual effect just as we have Mrs. Utter-Butter, our cow mascot. We are thankful to local artist Nicole Notch for painting the beehive box.”

Having a business like Holcomb’s is an important element of the Farmers Market, Jonas wrote.

“Whether it be apiarists like Norm, ranchers, orchardists or farmers, supporting the sustainability of our local farmers enables us as a community to support their livelihood and provides them with an avenue where they can harvest their crops early in the a.m. and bring their product to market the same day, without going through a middle-man and we are the beneficiaries of their hard work.  Providing a venue for all of our farmers is the core to who we are as a Farmers Market.”