Historic Janesville apiary to host National Honeybee Day celebration
n honor of National Honeybee Day, a local farm which once hosted the largest honey operation in Minnesota will open its doors to the public for a regional celebration of the honeybee and the habitats needed to foster a strong honeybee population.
Hosts Larry and Jan Hofmann are the fourth generation of Hofmanns to own Hofmann Apiaries. Though they aren’t bee farmers themselves, their farm has since 2016 has been the only bee farm on the National Register of Historic Places in honor of its rich history.
Larry Hofmann of Hofmann Apiaries with a more than century old photo of his grandfather Emil working at the honeybee farm (Andrew Deziel/Waseca County News).
The Waseca County History Center, in collaboration with the Hofmann Family, invites the public to celebrate World Honey Bee Day on Saturday, Aug. 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hofmann Apiaries, 4661 420th Ave., Janesville.
Our apiary, the ONLY bee farm on the National Historic Register, will be buzzing with activity, thanks to the incredible efforts of Joan Mooney, the Hofmanns, the dedicated team at WCHS, and numerous other contributors.
Last year, the farm had something of a grand opening to the public after several years of tireless work to restore the historic apiaries to their former glory, which during the 1920s dazzled audiences with cutting edge technology that allowed for the mass production of honey.
Larry Hofmann said that he and Jan look forward to hosting the public at large events roughly once a year, and regularly host smaller gatherings such as classes. He said that the family is obliged to open the farm up to the public after receiving so much grant money to fix it up.
Last year’s Honeybee Open House drew about 100 to 120 people, and the Hofmanns are anticipating an even larger crowd this year. Several local honey producers are expected to be in attendance, sharing their beekeeping expertise and offering merchandise for sale.
Just as much emphasis will be placed on the restored prairie and pollinator gardens, carefully maintained by the Hofmanns. Staff from Waseca County’s Soil and Water Conservation Office will offer pollinator garden tips and people will be able to buy plants for their pollinator gardens.
The Hofmanns have advertised the event in news outlets across Waseca County and Mankato. Thanks largely to that additional promotion, along with additional attractions, the Hofmanns are anticipating a larger event this year than last year’s event.
Emil Hofmann, Larry’s grandfather, converted what had been a more traditional Minnesota corn and grain farm to a honeybee farm some 120 years ago. By 1908, an existing hog barn had been remodeled to serve as a storage space and extraction center for the honey.
Emil’s aggressive investments in his own business enabled him to grow while economic times were good, but the onset of the Great Depression combined with the Dust Bowl proved a catastrophic one-two punch, crushing prices and greatly damaging honey production as well.
At the end of 1930, Emil was forced to mortgage all that he had and hung on for several more years. Yet, by 1933, he had defaulted on his loans and the bank foreclosed on his property, with the toll devastating Emil’s mental and physical health.
Emil passed away the following year, but his young son Charles was able to ultimately rebuild the business by taking a much more frugal approach than his father. Over several more decades, he ran a successful honeybee farm and eventually paid off his father’s debts.
Charles eventually retired in the mid-80s and the bees would last for a few more years at the farm, but were gone by the mid-90s. When Charles died in 2009, the farmland was sold to a neighboring farmer but Larry and Jan came to live in the farmhouse.
Larry and Jan credit the Waseca County Historical Society’s Joan Mooney with convincing them to pursue a path of fully restoring the apiaries. The Hofmanns met Mooney following Charles’s death, and gave her a tour of the farm’s historic apiaries.
Mooney, a grant writer, convinced the Hofmanns that funds could be available to fix up the apiaries through state and national historic preservation programs. Thus began a series of applications and a restoration campaign which would last over a decade.
Larry said that even before his father died, he had begun to think about what could be done with the farm. He didn’t want to see the buildings fall down but didn’t have the money to fix them up — so Mooney’s suggestion that grant funding could save the buildings could help was appealing.
“I could not have lived here and watched those buildings fall down, When Joan started talking about people that would be interested, I started thinking ‘Maybe we’ve got a shot at saving this.’”
Jan and Larry Hofmann in front of their pollinator garden and Hofmann Apiaries (Andrew Deziel/Waseca County News).
Under Larry and Jan, bees have returned to the farm although they are kept by hired outside beekeeper Jason Casey. That said, the productivity of the bees has been damaged by the lack of forage, along with colony collapse disorder and parasites like varroa mites.
Jan said that World Honeybee Day, first proclaimed in 2009 and held the third Saturday of each August ever since, makes a perfect time to highlight both the farm’s unique history and the particular challenges faced by honeybees and honeybee farmers.
“It’s about bringing people together to let them know about the plight of the honeybee and how important they are,” she said.
ABOUT THE EVENT
Meet local honey producers: Engage with Terry McDaniel, Jason Casey from Sun Honey, and Dan Strand as they share their beekeeping expertise and offer honey-related merchandise.
Explore the restored prairie: Walk through our beautifully restored prairie and consult with the Waseca Soil and Water Conservation Office about wildlife and pollinator habitat restoration efforts. Discover valuable resources available to landowners.
Observe pollinator gardens: Get an up-close look at our bees and other insects in action within our vibrant pollinator gardens.
Shop for your garden: Edenvale Nursery will be on-site with a selection of pollinator plant favorites, perfect for starting or enhancing your own garden.
Listen to live music: Ron Arsenault and Dave Pengra will play from 1-3 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome.
