In downtown Little Rock, museum bees make Arkansas’s “Food of the Year”

Little Rock, Arkansas – This year, Olympians aren’t the only ones vying for gold in the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame’s annual selection of the Food of the Year.

The main ingredient is honey, and you might be surprised to hear where to find it.

Everything created in Arkansas can be found at the Historic Arkansas Museum in downtown Little Rock.
Their gift shop is brimming with handcrafted goods, home décor, and crafts from all throughout the state, including one item created by the official insect of Arkansas and the most recent Food of the Year, honey.

“Every year we have a Food of the Year and of course, we want to have a food item that is native to Arkansas,” Marty Ryall, director of the Division of Arkansas Heritage, said. “Arkansas is a big producer of honey.”

In addition to being a product of the Natural State, honey and the bees who produce it are a natural fit for the museum.

“The bees were in the walls of the stairwell going up to the rooftop,” Historic Arkansas Museum Executive Director Stephanie Wade said.

The bees were discovered a few years ago and were relocated by Lauren Anderson of Calm + Confidence Beekeeping to their own colony on the building’s top.

Anderson currently helps harvest honey a few times a year, which is bottled and sold in the museum gift shop and distributed to the local community. Anderson also educates museum staff about insects and checks in on bees once a month.

She also uses the museum’s distinctive position to advocate for hardworking people by educating the public about these buzzing pollinators.

“Because there’s so many pollinator plants in this area and the museum does a good job to support the local gardeners,” Anderson said, “this is a very happy hive that has been producing a lot of honey over the years.”

The colony is fully interwoven with the exhibits at the Historic Arkansas Museum, which has a lot more information on bees and hives. During museum hours, you can stop by and get a jar of honey directly from the museum bees.