Lithopolis Honeyfest

Always a fun time, and although this year it was a little gray, it seemed at it's largest so far. I have been 3 times I think now and I always walk away with lots of honey and bee-themed goodies, being as we keep bees at our house too (its a lifestyle, just bee :).The end of the summer is a perfect time to stock up on beeswax candles for the upcoming cozy, mystical autumn days-- I'm so glad I did that this year!After we shopped, we checked out a mead tasting in the library just off of the main road and had a blast trying all the different flavors.I walked away with a bottle of orange blossom honey raisin mead for myself plus an extra bottle to include in a wedding gift.A new vendor addition was a shaved ice truck that had honey drizzle for all of the shaved ice. Yum! It's, of course, always a little more fun if it's sunny given the theme, but I still had a great time this year too.

Super fun, quite a large festival for a small town. Loved how involved the whole fest was. Attractions, educational demonstrations, honey samples galore, meade tastings, popcorn, corn dogs, bubble tea, artisinal crafts, and face painting, live music, and Im sure I am forgetting a lot. Great traffic averting as well because it was blocked off in a way that didn't disrupt the flow of traffic. Lithopolis Ohio showed itself off with this honey festival.

Honey kettle corn, unique arts and crafts and of coarse lots and lots of honey! Yes, they also do have local food trucks and more traditional fair food, but I didn't make it to food row to check it out. The honey sellers knew their stuff. Lots of different honey to sample. Different honey based on added natural flavorings, climate, time of year harvested, etc. I loved having the option to buy small 2oz bottles of honey - I was able to get a variety, instead of a single bigger bottle. I'm glad I learned about this festival through Mark K's review. I look forward to next year!

I have no reservations about giving the Honeyfest 5 stars. It was truly "as good as it gets." A great small-town festival- lots of people, lots of dogs, lots of food. Covering 2-3 blocks of downtown Lithopolis (with a view of the Columbus skyline at the end of the road,) this was a blast. Plenty of honey and honey-related items. We sampled many types of honey, and took home our favorites. Everyone was friendly, prices were reasonable, and there were surprises everywhere. The Wagnalls library a block or so away was having a book sale, and is well worth a visit for the architecture. Can't wait for next year!

This is the second year I've been to the Honeyfest. While it is small (only a few blocks along one road (save for the food truck area) it is by far one of my favorite, if not the favorite themed festivals. Back when I was living in the DC area, I would see shows on the Travel channel and such of these great themed festivals in the Midwest. Where everything at the fest has some sort of connection to the theme. Where people would make food out of the theme (assuming of course the theme was an edible object) people would make art out of it and/or make art of it, there would be tons of contests to related to the theme, etc. So, when I moved to Ohio, I was looking forward to experiencing these types of festivals. I went to the Obetz Zucchini Festival, the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival, the Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival... And discovered that for the most part, it was just a carnival with one tent dedicated to the theme. Talk about disappointing.But then I came across the Lithopolis Honeyfest, where there are honeyfarmers selling their honey and honey related products (soaps, body creams, teas, pollen), beekeepers doing demonstrations (even bee beards), Mead samples, vendors selling bee decorated jewelry clothing, art, a bake sale of foods made with honey, and so on. This is what I had been looking for.And it is free, so you can't beat the price. And it's great for kids as there are crafts for them to do, they can get bee shaped balloons, again, all for free. It is a little out of the way and not much else in the area (do check out the Wagnall's Library, which is pretty cool and usually has a book sale the same weekend), but it's definitely worth the trip.

Its not the greatest or largest festival I've ever been to, but its free, and the beekeepers and echibitors are all extremely friendly and very educational when it comes to taking about bees. I had a great time here, and will go back next year.