(WSB file photo: Bee spotted during a past West Seattle Bee Festival)

Another date for your spring calendar: The West Seattle Bee Festival is returning this year as a full-fledged community celebration, on Saturday, May 20th, in and around High Point Commons Park/Amphitheater and the Bee Garden [map]. Here’s what you’ll find that day, as announced by organizers:

The Bee Festival is back and everyone is invited! The fun starts at 9:30 AM and will last until 3:00 PM on Saturday, May 20th so make sure to put this on your calendar! Below are some of the exciting programs and activities already planned with more to come! Be sure to grab a brochure at our information booth on Lanham Place near Graham Street during the festivities for more information!

Buzz Run – 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM. The trail will start at the Bee Garden and will loop you around the hill to the finish hive. A special prize if you’re the first person to make your way back! If you joined us last year for the run, that pesky Bee Gnome trapped some of our bee friends in jars again and we need to save them! Along the running route, there will be jars filled with bees hidden in Commons Park for you to save. The person that saves the most bees and returns them back to the hive gets a special prize. If you find the Bee Gnome and bring it back to the hive, you will also get a special prize!

Community Clean Up – 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM. We partnered with Seattle One Day of Service to provide the best volunteering opportunities for you here at High Point! We’ll be cleaning up the community one block at a time, but you are also invited to help if you don’t want to register! Stop by the volunteer tent to pick up a picker and trash bag and help our community be squeaky clean. If you do register with Seattle One Day of Service, you’ll get a nifty T-Shirt provided from the city. More information on registration coming soon.

Bee Festival – 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM. Ella Bella Bee will do a performance at the amphitheater and will be on stilts to pass out seeds during the day. Seattle Rec’N’The Streets and UPower will take over Commons park for activities and yard games along with 20 other organizations from Seattle talking about environmental and bee-focused information. Want to see a fire truck up close? Fire Station 37 will attend the Bee Festival for you to ask questions! Puget Sound Beekeepers Association will be on site with their honey near the Bee Garden!

Here’s some backstory on the West Seattle Bee Garden, founded 10 years ago.