This won’t be an exhaustive discription of the Honeybee Festival at St. Genevieve, Missouri, (about an hour and 15 minutes from where I live) but I’ll give you a few highlights and fill in with some pictures I took. I had never been to the festival, which was celebrating its third year. We had 8 ladies who went and on the way we stopped at Chester, IL, and I hopped out and snapped a picture of Popeye… The Popeye character statures are found in Chester, because it is the birthplace of Elzie Crisler Segar, who created Popeye.
We went a bit further and came to St. Genevieve, Missouri. The town was founded in 1735 and is the oldest permanent European settlement in the state of Missouri. French Canadians and migrants coming across the Mississippi River from Southern Illinois settled there. There were MANY historical houses, some being worked on as we drove by. I read there were 26 different types of architecture in the town.
The Honeybee Festival was a one day event and as we found the main street it was on, there were LOTS of tents set up with all kinds of vendors selling all kinds of “honey” items…
It was 97 degrees and the heat index was 107! Needless to say, we were wilting most of the day and were only saved by a few shops that we went in to cool off…
I tried to think of all the things we saw…
~ All kinds of honey… some infused with flavors like lavender, blackberry, habanero, sage, and many more…
~ I saw handmade aprons, potholders, wreaths, candles, soaps, tee shirts, doggie bandanas, soft dog collar/leashes…
~ There were honey lemonades, honey teas, honey scones, honey infused syrups for coffee, honey cookies…
Some of the vendors offered free “honey samples” so we tasted them!
These cookies were HUGE and I think someone said they weighed a pound… that’s a LOT of sugar… (or maybe honey!)
These earrings and necklaces were very pretty… they were cut from old metal tins ( like Christmas cookie tins) and they were light as a feather and VERY beautiful…
The town even had their VERY OWN QUEEN BEE! See her sitting there on the bench, with her “bee hive hairdo!”
Here she is with me…
I should have taken more pictures of some of the houses, but it was SO hot, you didn’t want to stop walking to stand still in the sun… The flowers in some of the yards were very pretty too…
Here is a shop we went in to cool off too! It felt so good to be in the air conditioning!
A few days ago, I was reminding Leann, a good friend of mine who went, about us being together in St. Genevieve years ago…and stopping at a mom and pop Ice Cream shop… and we discovered these little mint cookie bites. As we were walking along the sidewalk, I saw this hand written sign and something caught my eye… I saw Mint Dip Coolers. I turned to Leann and said, I wonder if that’s those little cookies we had years ago? She said, “Jeanne, that had to be at least 30 years ago..” We went inside and it was like an old fashioned ice cream soda fountain shop. I looked up on their sign and saw Mint Dip Coolers and asked the guy behind the counter to describe them to me… he said, “well, we take 2 vanilla wafers…” and that’s as far as he got… I turned to Leann, and said, “it’s them, I know it is!” So he finished describing them… 2 vanilla wafers with mint chip ice cream in between them, and then they were dipped in chocolate and put in the freezer, wrapped in freezer paper. I bought one for everyone who was in our group and they were just as I had remembered… SO GOOD! (I cannot believe I forgot to take a picture of them!) :o(
Leann asked the guy how long they had been there, and he said 41 years! :o)
We walked on around the block and hit a few more little shops… and decided we better get a couple of group pictures…
That was our fun day at the Honeybee Festival… I forgot… We had a wonderful lunch at one of the restaurants on the trip along the streets. Aside from being VERY HOT AND SUPER HUMID, we had a very nice time…
I hope you enjoyed following along on our Honeybee trip!
I will show you what I got finished on Violette’s outfit tomorrow… she’s such a doll! :o)
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
First of all, Jeanne, congrats on a very successful auction!! That was wonderful!
What a fun day you and your friends had! Thanks for all the pictures. How fantastic is it that you found the same shop you had Leeann had been in so many years before?! I’m glad they were still there for you.
I’m sorry it was so miserably hot and humid, though. Those shops with a/c are sure a godsend when it gets like that. I trust everyone drank plenty of water and stayed well hydrated.
Well, I’ll be darn! When you mentioned going to a Honeybee Festival about an hour away the other day in your blog, I happened to think just maybe it was the one in Ste. Genevieve, which is also about an hour away from me! We have been there many times, starting when I was about 12 and my school class took a train to visit the historical town on a field trip, and then passing through all the time when I was going to college, plus just visiting on many occasions! Although I have never gone to the Honeybee Festival, I sure would like to in the future, ….if it isn’t so hot! Your group has such a brave bunch of ladies, Jeanne!
Talk about familiar, that one picture of what you mentioned with free taste treats, the pink banner behind the woman, shows the name of the little town I lived in during my teen years, Hillsboro, Missouri! I still have relatives there, plus that’s where I went to high school, so a lot of my friends live there, or close, too!
In the group picture, you really look good! Are you dieting? If so, it has certainly paid off!
Thank you so much for the fun visit to Ste. Genevieve! You might have been hot, but we got to “go along” while sitting in our air conditioned houses!! 🙂
HI Linda,
YES… I have lost weight… thanks for noticing! :o)
I loved your pictures of Ste. Genevieve. I went there with my daughter and 3 of my granddaughters many years ago. At that time I lived in Missouri. It was in the country about 14 miles from Hermann. This brought so many memories. Of course there wasn’t the Honeybee Festival at that time. Thank you for such wonderful memories!
Thanks so much for sharing St. Genevieve, with us. My grandmother used to mention it often. I think one of her nieces lived there. However, 97 and humid is definitely not my preferred atmosphere unless wearing shorts, a lightweight tee shirt and sandals. Staying in the shade would be me as well. That tee shirt slogan is funny, but is it supposed to be Is 13, or are 13? I probably need a grammar and reality check. Glad you found your old store of memories. The mint treats sound delicious. Your group photos are wonderful. Everyone looks so happy. You’d never know that it was so hot.
Keep cool everyone. We’re finally going to get some heat here by Friday. #1 priority, move a water faucet and put in a window air conditioner. It will be our first cool air at this place in 47 years. 🙂
I caught the tee shirt grammatical error right away, Joy. It should be ARE 13. I do think the slogan is adorable though.
Congratulations on another successful auction. Hope one of my sofa sisters was the lucky winner.
I really enjoyed the pictures of your trip to the Honeybee Festival. I would love to go but probably wouldn’t because of the temps. There is much to do around here in the summer time but most of it is outdoors in the heat so we don’t partake. Doesn’t seem to bother some people but their families have most likely been here for generations. I read that it takes at least three to acclimate to an area. Sealy was mostly founded by Czechs and Germans. They’ve been here for generations. When David and I are dying of the heat, they are out playing baseball and basketball at the park. When we are comfortable, they are wearing parkas and mukluks. Well maybe that’s an exaggeration but I can tell you they put on heavy coats in the winter when we are still wearing light jackets.
The pictures of your group are great. In spite of the heat it does look like everyone is having a grand time.
Can’t wait to see the additions to Violettes outfit.
Dear Jeanne, thank you for taking us along on your adventure. I loved the earrings!
I will have to see if PA has anything like this festival. I love honey.
I am so glad that you found your wafer and ice cream treat.
Some of my favorite childhood treats were
Tastykake Butterscotch Krumpets
Nehi Grape Sodas
Dolly Madison Chocolate Ice Cream
Charles Chips (in the can)
and, of course, Hershey Bars
Oh Dorothy, Tastykake Butterscotch Krumpets. Now I’m depressed. They were my favorites. Every now and then they will show up at one of our stores but they don’t stay. I also like the I think they were called Tandytakes the ones with the peanut butter center covered in chocolate. They were round. I Remember Charles Chips too. We always bought those and they had pretzels too. Never drank Nehi but drank a lot of Cream Soda and Birch Beer. And Dolly Madison ice cream was the best.
Forgot to mention I have bought Tastykake products on line from time to time but try not to eat much of that stuff now that it’s just David and me eating it.
The Honey Bee Festival looks like a lot of fun, Jeanne. Despite the heat it seems like all the ladies had a lovely time. I love the Queen Bee’s gown with bees on the bodice and hives on the skirt as well as the cinched in waist as a bee would have. The crown with the bee is the crowning touch.
Glad you were able to find the ice cream treats back. There’s a ice cream shop here in town in an old Victorian Gothic house that makes some unique flavors.
That must have been a fun day. All those goodies made out of honey! Glad you had a nice time with the girls.
It’s also nice to see pictures of you, Jeanne, and your friends.
Good grief- can’t believe it was that hot!