The 1st Hewanorra National Honey Show was held at the Castries Town Hall on the 9th-10th of December, 2021. The show represented the culmination of the 2020 / 2021 GEF SGP UNDP Knowledge Fair, which began in November 2020 with ACBO’s 10th Caribbean Beekeepers Congress. During the last two years, despite the limitations of COVID-19, Iyanola Apiculture Collective (IAC) and the ACBO have been working with local beekeepers, building their capacity in order to host a honey show within the region. It is unclear, but this may be the first honey show within the region within the last 20 years.
As part of the building up to the event, The IAC completed a three-day lecture series at their headquarters at Cas del Vega, Vigie. This innovative workshop provided entrants was conducted by Head Judge Sue Carter and provided entrants with key information on preparing entries for the show. Other important offerings from the workshop included queen rearing, bee nutrition and Varroa mite management hosted by Mr. & Mrs. Rudy Repka, John Fredrick, Aluen CAP and Richard Matthias. The lecture series had local and regional attendance, reflecting the strong interest in apiculture across the Caribbean region.
This first honey show was a resounding success with 81 entries from 28 entrants in competition classes for extracted and comb honey, wax, photography, and confectionery / cooking.
The Honey Show was very competitive, with entrants from across the country. The three biggest winners from the competition were Vincent “JEG” Clarke, Donson Stainly and Natalie Alphonse. JEG as he is known by his friends claimed 1st place Light Amber and 1st place Chunk Honey, 4th place Medium Amber and 6th place Wax Block, all of which contributed to him winning the Ministers Cup for Best in Show (Honey & Wax Classes).
Young Donson Stainly performed well within the competition and won 1st place Commercial Product along with a Certificate of merit from the Judges. Natalie Alphonse quietly picked the Most Points in Show, by placing 2nd Medium Amber, 2nd Photography, 4th Honey Cake, 4th Baked Goods and 4th Commercial Product, a super effort and a Beekeeper to lookout closely for, at the next honey show.
One of the key highlights of the event was the simultaneous exhibition of GEF SGP grantees consisting of an array of honey producers, chocolatiers, Fisher Folk, Seamoss producers and Baked goods available for sale. This gave the public an opportunity to see firsthand some of the success stories the GEF SGP program has helped to cultivate over the years.
The Hewannora National Honey Show could not have happened without the support of event title sponsor GEF SGP UNDP (St. Lucia), and special debt of gratitude is owed to their National Coordinator Mr. Giles Romulus. Alongside the efforts of GEF SGP there was a collaborating team of sponsors and volunteers Iyanola Apiculture Collective (IAC), Caribbean Youth Environmental Network (CYEN), Ministry of Agriculture – Hon. Mr. Prosper & Mr. Sidney, SLHTA – Mr. Azeez, Castries City Council (CCC) – Mayor Geraladine Lendor, IICA – Mr. Gregg Rawlins & Brent Theophile, SLUNCF – Mr. Craig Thomas, Massy Stores – Mr. Dunston DeMille, Cox & Co. – Mrs. Siobhan Beaubrun, MBC TV Andrew “Yardie” Haynes, JEB Copy Center – Jennifer Bak and The Trophy Center – Mrs. Lorde. To the event volunteers’ special thanks is extended starting with our Judges Ms. Sue Carter, Mr. Bill Fisher, Chef Orlando, Show Secretary – Ms. Samantha Justin, Community Outreach Officer – Dalia Carobere, Show Stewards – Creselma Hippolyte and Shernel McDonald.
Honey Show Results 2021
| EH 1 – Light Amber 1st – 96 – Vincent Clarke 2nd – 94 – Zial Williams 3rd – 84 – Mark Remy | EH 2 – Medium Amber 1st – 78 – Nicholson Lucien 2nd – 80 – Natalie Alphonse 3rd – 90 – Narcissus Edwin 4th – 244 – Vincent Clarke 5th – 87 – Jessie Fredrick 6th – 105 – Julia Popo |
| EH 3 – Dark Amber 1st 240 – Donson Stainly | CH 4 – Chunky Honey 1st – 1502 – Vincent Clarke 2nd – 1493 – Jessie Fredrick 3rd – 1482 – John Fredrick 4th – 1515 – Windy Jamerson 5th – 1492 – Mathius Carobere |
| W05 – Wax Block 1st – 371 – John Fredrick 2nd – 406 – Damian Montoute 3rd – 387 – Jayden Fredrick 4th – 375 – Wendy Jamerson 5th – 397 – Zebai Estaphane 6th – 392 – Vincent Clarke | W06 – Wax Candle No qualifying entries |
| A07 – Art 1st – 451 – Care Anse La Raye 2nd – 476 – Canaries Honey Prod. | A08 – Junior Art |
| P09 – Photography 1st – 1331 – Kirk Elliot 2nd – 561 – Natalie Alphonse 3rd – 581 – Donson Stainly 4th – 587 – Canaries Honey Prod. 5th – 569 – Uraline Alphonse | HC10 – Honey Cake 1st – 11 – Care Anse La Raye 2nd – 9 – Carmen Nurse 3rd – 113 – Priscilla Phillip-Khodra 4th – 6 – Natalie Alphonse 5th – 128 – Catherine Edmund 6th – 32 – Canaries Honey Prod. |
| BG11 – Baked Goods 1st – 603 – Care Anse La Raye 2nd – 601 – Carmen Nurse 3rd – 624 – Canaries Honey Prod. 4th – 598 – Natalie Alphonse 5th – 602 – Mark Remy | BS13 – Commercial Product 1st – 1284 – Donson Stanley 2nd – 1262 – Nicholson Lucien 3rd – 1260 – John Frederick 4th – 1264 – Natalie Alphonse 5th – 1268 – Mark Remy |