National Urban Beekeeping Day is celebrated annually on July 19. The day is set aside to celebrate the practice of keeping bee colonies in urban areas. Other names for urban beekeeping are hobby beekeeping and ‘backyard beekeeping. On December 3, 2019, Detroit Hives, a non-profit organization, declared July 19 of every year as National Urban Beekeeping Day. The holiday was created to raise awareness about supporting urban beekeepers, inform the public on the role of urban beekeeping, and also to discuss the importance of bees in our environment.
One of the challenges of urban beekeeping was swarming. While it is harmless, the sight of a swarming colony of bees in an urban area is enough to scare people away and disturb their day-to-day activities. People know that bee stings can be excruciating and are ever wary of getting stung by bees. The inclusion of bees in the local food movement also helped in overturning bans, and from 1999 to 2012, there was an enormous increase in urban beekeepers. Although it is now mandatory to register beehives, a large number of beekeepers do not inform their city management.
Presentation -Dibyabharati Nayak