In August 2023, I received an email from Kamon Reynolds (Tennessee’s Bees) inviting me to attend the inaugural North American Honey Bee Expo in Louisville, Kentucky. Needless to say, I didn’t think twice before accepting the incredibly generous invitation!
I started my journey to Louisville on the 3rd January 2023, not really knowing what to expect. I have been to a few shows in the UK, with my most recent experience at The Beekeeping Show in Telford in February ’23, so I suppose that’s what I was building my expectations around.
After a 23-hour door-to-door journey, I arrived at the hotel in the middle of a mass evacuation of the Crowne Plaza. Apparently, someone had been testing their bee smoker in their room, prompting a full hotel evacuation (turned out it was actually just a regular smoker not following the rules).
After a short nap, it was straight into Day 1 of the Expo, which was only a 5-minute walk away from the hotel. From the first sight of the Expo centre, I was in total awe of the size of the facility. I know the USA doesn’t tend to do things by halves, but this was on an entirely different level. It didn’t look like an exhibition centre: it looked like an airport! Even the trucks that everyone arrived in were supersized. Richard Noel and I agreed, the jeep was the pick of the bunch.
As I arrived into the building, I was greeted by a friendly team who gave me my name tag for the event. This was such a good idea and something I think the UK shows could adopt. It made you feel a bit special but it also made communicating with people so much easier as you could see their name and where they were from and everyone also got a nice memento to take home with them.
