By Chase Emmons

OK, I seriously still don’t believe how successful that was.  It’s like I’m going to wake up and it’s still Friday night before, subways to Rockaway are down, and a sudden storm front is about to roll in.

3 MONTHS EARLIER

I was hanging around with my beekeeping mentor, Dan Conlon of Warm Colors Apiary in Deerfield MA.  He holds a Honey Festival every year in Sept and we were talking about it.  All of a sudden it hit me, why not have an NYC Honey Festival now that beekeeping has been legal for a year?  Dan said that if someone hadn’t already thought of it, somebody would soon, so it might as well be me.  I picked his brain for a bit and then set off on this kooky mission.  It seemed like the perfect event for Brooklyn Grange to actually put on, and the partners all agreed.  That was easy.  Now I had to figure out a venue.  I remembered that my friend, David Selig, had mentioned to me that it would be cool to find events to hold at the Rockaway Beach Boardwalk, especially events that could extend the season a bit.  The Rockaway Beach Club Concessions is a new venture by a group of really cool restaurateurs who brought really good food and drink out to the Rockaway boardwalk.  David had opened Rockaway Taco 4 years ago and it has since become a huge success, so this was a logical extension of that.  Oh yeah, David is a beekeeper himself and actually got a bunch of attention for the maraschino cherry juice tainted red honey his hives produced in Brooklyn last year.  So perfect time of year, perfect connection to food/drink, and a perfect site.  Sure, there were some who claimed it was too far away, or too much of a hassle to get to.  But hey, doing it in Union Square or Central Park would have taken no creativity whatsoever, involved no risk/reward, and would have relegated the Fest to being just another “thing” going on in Manhattan that day.  There was also a very personal aspect to choosing the boardwalk.  I grew up in the Meat Packing District.  Back when I was a kid, it actually was a meat packing district, with dumpsters full of cow heads, friendly transvestite hookers, an abandoned elevated West Side Highway and Highline where me and my little friends could have urban Stand By Me adventures.  The time between that and what my neighborhood is now was an amazing time.  Such creativity, such open thought, such idealistic nonsense that was so totally fun while it was happening.  That’s the same feeling I get in Rockaway today.  I never went out there once in my life until this past winter.  Selig gave me the tour at the most dreary and depressing time of year, and I totally felt it.  Rockaway is having it’s time of dreams now, and I’m damn well gonna enjoy a portion of my second childhood out there.  So the choice was clear as there was no choice.  It had to be the boardwalk.  Selig said great, make it happen!

OK, now the hard part: making it actually happen.

I knew I had to get a group/team/gaggle together in order to pull this off.  Had to be beekeepers or even wanabees.  Had to be cool and open minded people, not saddled with entrenched and hobbling beliefs, but also intelligent and pragmatic.  Ability to be social, laugh, and adventurous a must.  Shared vision a must too.  Tall order!  Well, turned out not so much.  Timing is almost everything, network/connections makes up the rest.  Within a week I had a core group of like minded individuals, and 2 weeks after that I had the rest. Some were serendipitous finds, some found us, and some felt the disturbance in the force and had to investigate.  I openly referred to myself as Tom Sawyer and the group as my fence painters, so from now on I will use “we” instead of “I” almost exclusively.  Without further ado, the usual suspects were:

Megan Paska: The Brooklyn Homesteader.  Megan has been a huge force in the NYC urban agriculture sphere.  Her credits include everything from rooftop beekeeping, to a well-read blog, to backyard chickens, to writing a book, to slaughtering her first chicken and writing about it on HuffPo, to founding the NYC chapter of Backwards Beekeepers.  And a huge amount in between.  If the group has a Queen, Megan is it.

Lydia Turner: LT&Co.  That insanely perfect flyer and logo?  Yeah, she created that with basically no guidance.  That whole old-timey look which worked so perfectly with the boardwalk venue?  Yeah, that was all her.  I can’t imagine any company not feeling blessed to get their hooks into her.  Hey Lydia, we have an amorphous idea for an event or product, mind whipping us up an entire brand identity in a couple days?  We know whatever you come up with will be absolutely perfect on the first try.

Molly Byrnes:  Responsible for our digital identity.  What’s an event like this without an amazing web page, amazing Facebook page, Twitter, etc?  Not just that, but Molly was integral in keeping the group on task without ever coming off as pushy or overbearing.  She’d come up with ideas, we’d say sure, go for it!  And she would.  Molly was definitely the subtle binding agent, or propolis as it were.  She also brought us the next cast member…

Amanda Rodriguez and Andrew Povolny: AmandaRodriguez.com and yoitsandrew.com  Actual architects of the web site, securer of server space, and always available to make last minute changes just as fast as we could bombard them.  And not just basic IT stuff, but the actual creative layout of the site.  Oh yeah, and the day of the Fest Amanda had a table where she did the most awesome bee themed nail paint.  Next year she’ll be doing full art, with a gun, laser removal required at a later date, must be bee or honey themed.  Drink with reckless abandon and leave with a hive on your back.

Tim O’Neal: Boroughbees.  Tim…how to describe him?  Well, he knows a load about keeping bees both in the country and in the city.  He’s a researcher in an HIV vaccine lab with all sorts of radioactive and caustic stuff laying about.  He bakes the absolute best pies EVER.  He actually has groupies that hound him for dates after they see one of his bee talks or demos.  He spearheaded an effort to get a bee burlesque show for the after party, though an appropriate venue ultimately was not found.  He was the human megaphone for all the announcing at the Fest, stripping his vocal chords to shreds and happy to do so.  And to any TV producers out there, all this and the stuff I can’t put in print add up to the most amazing reality show ever.  “Being Tim”.  I get 10% for that yo!  Don’t mess with me, I gots representation!

Kelly York:  Yellow Queen Honey  Kelly was our muse and had some amazing contacts.  Hooked us with several great participants and sponsors.  Her delicate and demure demeanor was always a treat, especially when it was set aside for her to drink every one of us under the frakking table without the slightest effort!  Better yet, she’s the one who hooked up 6 Point Brewery with the honey they turned into 5 special brews just for the fest!  So wait, she was responsible for the BEER, maybe she needs to be listed first?

Emily Vaughn:  Emily had the knack for writing copy.  Had the knack for tweaking the web site.  Had the knack for utilizing her contacts through Slow Food.  She also continues to have the knack for being one of Tim’s beekeeping students without falling victim to his almost mystical sway over women.  With all the work she did, she was unable to actually attend the Fest.  Talk about dedication!

Michael Meier:  The Brooklyn Homosteader.  Yes, this is his self appointed nom de guere, and he was an amazing find!  From the get go he was cycling all over the city getting our flyers to every farmers market possible.  Networking, spreading the word, he was our Paul Revere.  Better yet, and not Honey Fest related, he ended up being one of the best Grange farm volunteers ever.  From the perspective of my official role with Grange, this was the best thing to come out of the Fest.

Ross Brown:  First year beekeeper, super gung ho, amazing pad in BK with a garden, grills an amazing spread upon request, and gets some good schwag to raffle off, too.  Never tagged him for having body art, but at the after dinner he gave us a triple whammy:  arm, hip, and a… NAVEL RING!  Somehow I think if there were a few more drinks involved, there would have been even more reveals.  We’ll jot that down for next time.

Michael Leung:  HK Honey.  Came to NYC from Hong Kong for 2 months just to get the low down on the urban AG and beekeeping scene.  He created the amazing signs we had at the Fest.  Designer, brander, artist, and HK urban beekeeper.  Amazing guy!  Check out this super pro video that Nokia did on him:  Video

Karen Russo:  ABC News, then to NBC, somehow decided she liked hanging with this eclectic bunch, helped us get some good press going.  Yeah, she bailed on some of our meetings due to silly “field assignments” in supposedly “foreign lands” with possible “combat zones” and stuff.  Totally unacceptable to forgo Honey Fest duties for such trivialities.  She can count herself as under review and Grade Pending.

Then the lunacy began.  First meeting was in the yard at Roberta’s in Bushwick.  Chris and Brandon, owners, were super cool and hooked us with a private table, on movie night.  It was insane.  We’re eating, drinking, the yard is full, they’re showing Evil Dead, me and Tim are quoting Ash,people are wondering who the “special” people are that got a table out there, and we’re trying to get something on paper.  All sorts of crazy ideas, the more the better.  Throw them all out there, then let them sink in and start to triage.  Create the block of marble before removing the extra bits.  Bee costume break dance competition, sure!  Bee costume parade with marching band on the boardwalk, of course!  And it went on like that.

Over the next few weeks we got a bit more rational.  Nixing lots of stuff, begrudgingly so.  Coming up with new and more reasonable stuff.  Getting sponsors and participants.  It was a coup to get 6 Point involved from the start.  Ian was totally into it, immediately saw the opportunity to do some local honey brews, and really was the anchor sponsor. Pickles, Hot Honey, Honeydrop, shirt screening, they all started signing up.  Then the press started noticing.  Started small but was steady.  I had a feeling that everyone was hedging their bets to get close enough to see the weather report.  Understandable, it being at the beach and all.  Then, the week before, the flood gates opened.  Weather report was super solid, participants were signing up, big press was interested, it all came together.  Since this wasn’t about any one person, the press time was spread amongst several of us.  Yeah, I got the Daily News with the pic that makes me look 50, yippee.  But when I sent Tim into the studio at WNYC in my place, it was amazing.  More groupies for him, and God Bless ‘em for it.  Emily gets to write a piece for Grist which was her dream.  And looks like some of the other cast members will do some post-game press, too.

Friday, Sept 16, 2011.  Got all the loaner chairs and tables from Build It Green (what I call the Post Apocalyptic Home Depot) out there in advance, the PA system too.  Turns out that there will also be a super cool art exhibit in the basement of the building the night of the Fest.  Several of the concessions partners have put together a honey themed prix fixe dinner for the evening.  Everyone is psyched, weather is gonna be perfect, it’s wonderful when a plan comes together.  Or not…  that afternoon we find out that both subways that most people would take to get to Rockaway were shut down for Saturday.  Shuttle bus from one point, but added a good hour to travel time.  Yippee!  Looks like we’ll be sitting around with a small crew, drinking 6 Point from about Noon on, and napping under the boardwalk until dinner.  The Boardwalk gamble seemed to get the best of us.  Whaddya gonna do?

Saturday, Sept 17, 2011.  Got there at 8am just because.  Told everyone to get there at 9am for setup, and a start time of 10am.  Had a schedule of speakers and a few demos.  A couple participants got there at 9am.  Set stuff up.  A few more by 9:30.  10am, an ok showing and some actual visitors starting to take notice.  Feeling ever so slightly better.  Clearly the scheduled of speakers was not going to happen as planned, but we figured we’d play it by ear.  Seemed like the speakers were having a good time talking to the visitors directly, more like schmoozing and networking, not so bad.  Then it was like all of a sudden there were a bunch more participants, vendors, and visitors!  The Rockaway Arts Alliance and Sophia Skeans got the kids art mural project kicking, George Schramm from the Long Island Beekeeper Club had a big crowd around his observation hive, Horman’s Best Pickles had a line, and everything was clicking!  Then, basically everyone selling honey had sold out.  Yeah, 2 hours, no more honey.  At around 4 someone brought some more supers to extract from and was selling it as fast as they could fill jars, then they ran out of jars.  They ran down to the Dollar Store and bought every last jar.  Came back, sold them all in literally 5 minutes.  Would have sold quicker if they could have taken the money quicker.  If that’s not a direct sign of how many people and how successful this was, I don’t know what is.

Now I’ll start using “I” again since everyone else was doing their thing and I was running around making sure everything was under control.  I knew I wasn’t going to get to enjoy the Fest itself, kind of like a movie director doesn’t get to enjoy seeing the film for the first time.  But that’s what I signed up for, and making sure things were happening and people were happy was my sole concern.  It was like, who’s that guy in the hoodie climbing up the poles onto the roof and running wires?  That was my experience, stopping every once in a while to snag some chips or fries off a friend’s plate.  No beer for me, gotta stay frosty.  Press people?  Here let me introduce you to one of my team…  OK, I spent a few minutes with the woman from the Japanese paper, it was the least I could do.  But otherwise I knew it had a life of its own and all I had to do was make sure there were no actual fires.  But then there was something that I, and apparently a few others, did notice…

We set up the honey extractor in a back room because we knew that open honey would end up attracting the local bee population.  Giving out soda, you get people.  Giving out honey, you get people and bees.  But still, even with the extractor indoors, we knew that vendors would have stuff out for tasting and sooner or later a scout was gonna report back the bounty she had discovered.  By mid day there were a lot of bees around.  Lots of bees, lots of people, you’d think this was going to end badly.  But something totally unexpected and wonderful happened.  Nobody cared.  Well, the kids seemed to care since they started petting the bees that would land on their honey coated finger.  But otherwise, we had human and bee attendees, all enjoying the fest and totally accepting of each other.  The coolest thing was watching the honey tasting contest.  We set it up to be crowd source judged.  People would come up, take a stick, dip/taste, and go down the line of submissions.  Then they would put a mark on the sign for the sample they liked the best.  But when they would dip the stick, many times a bee would land on the stick and start sampling too, and people had no problem putting the stick in their mouth, carefully not to disturb the fellow sampler.  It was something out of a Disney movie, totally unbelievable.  Not one attendee got stung.  This will be the big takeaway memory for me of this entire event.

OK, from the sublime to the absurd.  When it came time to announce and MC the raffle, we had no megaphone.  So Tim stood up on a table and began to holler.  It was fantastic.  His voice would gradually disintegrate as the announcing went on while his jokes became even more unintelligible.  Frakking brilliant, couldn’t have scripted something like this.  People won nice gift certificates to various eateries around the city and books on beekeeping.  Afterwards I took half the proceeds and gave it to the Rockaway Arts Alliance crew.  With all the work they put in making the kids mural come to life, they deserved it.  The other half will go towards a thank you dinner for the team.  I think Roberta’s again.  After the raffle it was time to announce the winners from the honey tasting contest.

First prize was serious: a fully assembled English Garden 8-Frame hive with copper top from Brushy Mountain Bee Supply.  Winner was Kathy Rohde from Schoharie Valley Apiaries, 646-734-5026 rkrgc@optonline.net

Second prize was serious: an Ultimate Hive Stand from Bee Smart Designs.  Winner was Ralph Gaeta from Ralph & Billie’s Honey, 646-234-1944.  

Tim croaked that out too, and it was hilarious.  After that, things began to wind down.  I asked a few of the eateries in the concessions how the day was, they said it was one of the best days of the season.  6-Point sold out completely and Honeydrop almost emptied their truck. Later, I got a pretty reliable estimate from a guy who knows how to do it, that we easily saw 1000 active visitors roll through.  Seems likely enough, since from 11am to 5pm there were easily 75 people around the various tables at any given moment.  I’m sure that there were a lot of people just visiting the boardwalk who then found the event, but when you actually attract walk-ins, you know you got something going on.  In retrospect, the subway issue was a blessing in disguise.  If they had been running, it might have been a bit unmanageable. 

But wait, there’s more!  At 7pm the honey themed prix fixe dinner began, honey themed cocktails, the art show was kicking in the basement, the band showed up, and things got started all over again.  I sat and ate and drank like someone who had been lost at sea, but then I looked up and started to notice the festivities.  They got a quarter pipe from some guy down the street who’s kid didn’t use it anymore and were doing hits, the band ended up in the basement with the art show and got a full mosh scene going, total mayhem!  I had to finally take off as I was in that weird lucid state you get when sleep deprivation has fully set in.  I slept well into the morning on Sunday, but then had to drive back out to pick up some stuff.  Good thing, as me and Selig got talking and might have a really cool and low key event to announce in the next couple weeks.  Yeah, it has something to do with honey.

Proceeds from the event will support two emerging education programs: Brooklyn Kitchen’s Classrooms in the Kitchen, which will bring 20 school groups to the kitchen labs for cooking lessons, and Brooklyn Grange’s City Growers, dedicated to educating New York City students about urban agriculture, healthy food and nutrition.

Competing restaurants include teams from Mario Batali’s West Village veteran Lupa Osteria Romana to Williamsburg newcomer Best Pizza. Also on the roster is critically acclaimed Fatty ‘Cue and Astoria’s beloved trattoria, Vesta. The winner will be determined by popular vote as well as a panel of esteemed judges including The NY Times’ Amanda Hesser, Chopped host Ted Allen, Brooklyn Brewery’s Garret Olliver, WNYC’s Amy Eddings and last year’s winners, Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli of Frankie’s Spuntino.
Local craft beer will be available courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery, and Roberta’s Pizza will provide fresh baked bread to sop up the sauce. Vintage DJ Jonathan Jacobs will be spinning vinyl from the 30’s through the 60’s.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Our harvest will include:
-sweet carrots
-beets
-spinach and salad greens
-napa cabbage
-rainbow chard
-late-season herbs

So come stock up for Thanksgiving, grab a beer or hot cider at Roberta’s and give us one last high-five before we officially close for the season.

Visit their Brown Paper Tickets page to order your tickets today!

Sunday Market at Roberta’s

Sunday, October 31st 11am-5pm

261 Moore St. Brooklyn, NY (map)

Thanks to everyone at the LICBDC for this honor!

Brooklyn Grange’s Ace Farm Hand Rob will be selling some of our fresh rooftop veg this Sunday at the Brooklyn Based 2010 Unfancy Food Show. Go check it out and get fed!

On Sunday we’ll also be slingin’ veggies in the back yard at Roberta’s – there will be pizza, there will be beer, there will be World Cup Soccer and most importantly there will be kale, chard, basil and a plethora of beautiful salad greens for sale. Come hang out and buy some farm-fresh food!

WHERE: Roberta’s Farm, 261 Moore St. Brooklyn, NY (map)

WHEN: Saturday, May 1st, 2pm-8pm

It’s going to be a beautiful 80-degree May day, and the food and drink will be tasty and abundant.

PLUS we’ll be joined by some amazing musical guests:

The Birdhive Boys

The Dead River Company

So come eat, drink, dance and play with us out in the sunshine. All the proceeds go to Brooklyn Grange!

We’re having a T-shirt drive to raise money for our farm. Send us your old, light-colored, unprinted tees, and we will make them look awesome and then sell them.

Drop off your T-Shirts at Roberta’s or mail them to:

Roberta’s
ATTN: T-SHIRT DRIVE
261 Moore St
Brooklyn, NY 11206

Or drop them off in person with Chris, Gwen, Ben, Brandon or Anastasia.

Congratulations to Frankie’s Spuntino,  whose meatballs were elected best in the house by the judges and guests alike.

Special thanks to all of our contestants, including Frankie’s Spuntino,  Bamonte’s, Roebling Tea Room, The  Meat Hook and Roberta’s. All of the meatballs were amazingly delicious, and we can’t wait to bring out everybody again next year for the Second Annual Slapdown!

Finally, we need to extend a big thank you to our judges, Gina DePalma, Valentina Angeloni, Josh Ozersky, Eric Sherman, Jessica Amason and Patrick LaFrieda, our generous sponsors at Dairyland, Bacardi, and Union Beer, all of our volunteers, and especially our gracious hosts at Brooklyn Kitchen.