Saturday 9/5 @ Mid-America All-Indian Museum
ICT Bee Fest
ICT Bee Fest is our signature annual event celebrating native Kansas bees and pollinators.
This FREE come-and-go event is for pollinator lovers of all ages. Organized by Grassland Groupies and the Bee City Wichita Committee, with cooperation from the City of Wichita.
- 00Days
- 00Hrs
- 00Min
On this page:
ICT Bee Fest 2026
Get involved before the event:
Catching Butterflies for ICT Bee Fest
ICT Bee Fest 2026
Native Plant Seed Collection
Native Plant Seed Collection
Sep Bee City Wichita Committee Meeting
Oct Bee City Wichita Committee Meeting
What to expect at ICT Bee Fest
Alex Morphew, Pollinator Ecologist at MDC, gives the Keynote Address at 11am
Bee City Wichita Activities (Free) (All Ages)
- Bumblebee Petting Zoo and Demo Colony | Make a buzzy friend and peek inside the Eastern Bumblebee nest. “Petting zoo” bumblebees are males, which have no stinger.
- Butterfly House | interact with wild butterflies caught the day before, with monarch butterfly tagging demos (see schedule)
- Ask an Expert | native plant and bug experts are dying to answer your burning questions about gardening and more.
- Bug Catching | entomologists will teach you how, with professional (sweep and aerial) nets!
- Native Garden Tour | Mid-America All-Indian Museum
- Solitary Bee Demo Nest | Fabricated by Rachel Roth
Educational Partners (Free)
- Master Gardeners | kid-friendly activities and demos
- Riverside Garden | kid-friendly activities and demos
- Xerces Society | Bumblebee Atlas and Bee City USA
- Mindful Play | sessions provided by Confluence Collective
- The Book Bus by Wichita Public Library. Bring your library card, get your library card, and check out a book to take home!
- Kansas Permaculture Institute
- Kansas Forest Service
- Kansas Native Plant Society
Arts and Music
- Handpan Dan | the one and only
- Harvester Arts | free, interactive Gallery Place Project
- Jill Zerger | Creations by Jill
- Sarawr Art | Sara Weatherman
- Sara Earle | Sarah designed our habitat certification signs and badges.
- Blue Aster Studios | via Bee City Wichita
- LegacyWorks ICT
Native Plants for Sale
- Prairie Pride Native Plants (via Bee City Wichita)
- Prairie Moon Nursery (via Bee City Wichita)
Refreshments
- Tickled Pink Drinks – Food Truck
“Thank you again so much for inviting me! This event was by far the most fun event I have done. It was great to see people so excited about pollinators and I didn’t have a single person tell me they hate bugs! haha”
– Katie, Education Partner 2024
2026 Event Schedule
Monarch Butterfly Tagging
This hands-on demonstration led by trained staff and volunteers will show how to apply scientific tags to our Monarch Butterflies. These butterflies (caught locally the night before) will be released back to the wild at the end of the event.
Presentation: Native Bee Diversity
Not many people realize there are over 4,000 species of native bees in the United States alone. Alex will give us a small glance into the habits and preferences of native bees, their incredible biodiversity, and how citizen science projects can make a big difference for these important pollinators. The world of bees is so much larger and complex than just European honeybees. Let's expand what it means to "save the bees"!
Alex Morphew
Monarch Butterfly Tagging
This hands-on demonstration led by trained staff and volunteers will show how to apply scientific tags to our Monarch Butterflies. These butterflies (caught locally the night before) will be released back to the wild at the end of the event.
Giveaway Winners Announced
Keynote: Native Bee Diversity
Keynote Address by Alex Morphew
11:00 am | Buffalo Room
Not many people realize there are over 4,000 species of native bees in the United States alone. Alex will give us a small glance into the habits and preferences of native bees, their incredible biodiversity, and how citizen science projects can make a big difference for these important pollinators. The world of bees is so much larger and complex than just European honeybees. Let’s expand what it means to “save the bees”!
Alex Morphew has served as the Pollinator Ecologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) since 2023. Alex received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado and attended Wichita State University for graduate school, where her research focused on the value of conservation plantings for native bee communities. Beyond native bees, Alex’s work with MDC also encompasses the conservation of a wide range of other insect pollinators and terrestrial invertebrates.
Event FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
A water fountain and bathrooms are located in the lobby, near the main museum entrance.
Please park in the Exploration Place parking lot and cross the foot bridge to enter the event. Accessible handicapped parking is available at the MAAIM parking lot, right by the event.
Vendors may use the museum parking lot.
Bee City Wichita is an initiative that focuses on native plants and wildlife. European Honeybees are an introduced species, so they are not the highlight of this event. This small difference is part of what makes ICT Bee Fest unique!
Honeybees and beekeeping are important to agriculture in our community, but so are native pollinators. If we lose native pollinators, we’ll see major ecological consequences across our beloved landscape. It is more important than ever to put attention toward their conservation, and they are often overlooked.
Yes! The Eastern Bumblebees at ICT Bee Fest are 100% male bumblebees, which do not have stingers. Only female bees have stingers!
Our supplier hand-selects the male bumblebees for us, and after the event the boys live out the rest of their short lives providing pollination work to the Riverside Community Garden by Botanica.
A huge thank you to Koppert, our bumblebee supplier. Although Koppert has ceased production of research and education hives, management has carved out a personal exception for us and is continuing to provide bumblebees to ICT Bee Fest out of support for our educational work.
Wichita is the first Bee City USA affiliate in Kansas (became an affiliate Feb 7, 2023), but it’s a nation-wide movement organized by the Xerces Society.
We create and restore pollinator habitat, encourage pollinator-friendly practices in the city, and raise awareness of how important native pollinators are. Grassland Groupies is the organizing NGO behind the initiative.
Current public garden projects include:
- Pawnee Prairie Park
- Central Riverside Park (Kansas Wildlife Exhibit),
- Riverside Community Garden (near Botanica)
- Evergreen Library and Community Center
- Earhart Elementary
Bee City Wichita will also be leading a unique prairie restoration project right here in the heart of downtown Wichita that will begin in 2026.
Learn more at our Bee City Wichita page.
Volunteer opportunities are generally communicated through our newsletter, so I encourage you to sign up to receive updates.
We also encourage everyone to start native gardens in their own yards. Even a small space can make a big difference. Stop by the Ask-an-Expert and Garden Certification Booth to find out how you can create a Certified Pollinator Habitat at home!
This event was put together by Grassland Groupies and The Bee City Wichita Committee, with cooperation from the City of Wichita.
- Grassland Groupies is a local nonprofit dedicated to environmental education and conservation of grasslands founded in 2021.
- The Bee City Wichita Committee meets monthly throughout the year at the Advanced Learning Library, meetings are open to the public. Sign up for updates!
THANK YOU for supporting ICT Bee Fest 2026
Your contributions of advertising, event space, and funding made this event not only possible but extraordinarily memorable.
Thank you for collaborating with us to show hundreds of pollinator lovers that you love our wild bees.
Bee City Wichita Merch
100% of profits from sales of our merch goes toward the Bee City Wichita initiative. These funds are used to improve and create pollinator habitat in Wichita.
All of our designs are created by local human artists without the use of AI:
- New ICT Flag Bee Design (artist: Theo Jehle)
- City Skyline BCW (artist: Rachel Roth)
- Grassland Groupies Wildflowers (artist: Rachel Roth)
- Bee City Wichita logo (artist: Rachel Roth)
T-shirts are offered at a suggested donation of $25 or more. They were printed locally at Allen-Lee Screen Printing and are 100% pre-shrunk cotton. We recommend flipping shirts inside out before washing to make them last as long as possible.
Notice of Photography and Filming:
We have an official event photographer at ICT Bee Fest, as well as several members of the media. Because this event is free and open to the public, you may end up in photographs, audio, or video recording. If you would prefer not to be photographed, please kindly let the photographer know.
If you would like us to remove any image of yourself later used in marketing or promotional materials from this event, please contact info@grasslandgroupies.org.
ICT Bee Fest Gallery
2025
A huge thank you to our event photographer Doug Stice of Winding Road Media. He captures hundreds of photos, far more than we can post here, and we are so grateful for his work documenting each event with such care.
ICT Bee FEst
2024
The second Bee Fest was even bigger than the first, with more vendors, more education partners, and over 750 people attending in the 3 hours.
You helped us raise hundreds of dollars to support locally sourced, public pollinator gardens in the metropolitan area, and our volunteers had nearly as much fun as attendees.
ICT Bee FEst
2023: thE BEGINNING
