Hello beekeepers and potential beekeepers!
Our next meeting of the Central Washington Beekeepers’ Association will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 at the Yakima Area Arboretum (1401 Arboretum Drive, Yakima, WA). Topics to be covered include preparing your hives for winter and ways to treat for varroa mites. We will hear from beekeepers on how their hives did this year. There will be a report on our honey booth at the Central WA State Fair. We will sample people’s 2026 honey. (Please bring a jar of your honey for sampling.) The floor will be open for nominations for President and Treasurer of the Central WA Beekeepers’ Assoc. (Additional nominations and the election will take place at our November meeting.) You will be able to sign up for our December 1st potluck which will be held at the Yakima Area Arboretum, too. We will have snacks, honey sampling and door prizes at the October 6th meeting.
The website for the CWBA can be found at Yakimabees.org. The application for a Youth Scholarship can also be found on the website. Please encourage young people ages 12 to 17 to consider applying for the scholarship. (More details and requirements are on our website.)
Any new individuals who join the CWBA in 2026 have their membership extended through 2027. One does not have to be a member to attend our beekeeping meetings!
Click Below for Info
It’s Fair Time
Welcome to the Central Washington Beekeepers Association, a non-profit organization established to help educate the public about honey bees, as well as to provide an educational forum for both backyard and professional beekeepers. The CWBA meets the first Tuesday of each month from 6:00 to about 7:30 PM at the Yakima Arboretum, 1401 Arboretum Drive, Yakima. The public is welcome to join us for education and lively conversation on raising bees! Serving Yakima County, Washington, and surrounding areas, the CWBA is a member of the Washington State Beekeepers Association http://www.wasba.org
Why Bees?
Study after study has demonstrated the importance of honey bees–and other pollinators–to human existence. Pollinators are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. Fruits, including bananas, vegetables, and even coffee and chocolate rely on bees and other pollinators to spread pollen from blossom to blossom in order to turn those blossoms into food products. Bees also support the plants that help the world deal with carbon, provide nearly one half of the Earth’s oils, fibers and raw materials, and help sustain our ecosystems by helping plants reproduce.
Here in Yakima, a valley of agricultural gold, our bees and pollinators support countless apple, cherry, and pear trees. They pollinate thousands of acres of peaches, plums, nectarines, and other soft fruits, as well as the best blueberries one can find! Yakima wouldn’t be the place we know as home if it weren’t for the bees!
Curious? There are many ways to help the efforts of the CWBA and protect our Valley’s honey bees, even even if you don’t want to raise them! Join us for a meeting or two and learn what you can do!
