TISDALE, Sask. – It is not easy to sit still with hundreds of bees swarming across your face.
It’s especially testing to remain phlegmatic and unflappable as a bee crawls up a nostril, rubs and wriggles a bit, then stings you.
But Bill Marshall sits as calmly as a Buddha while hundreds of young bees scramble up a cardboard bib toward his face, where they’ll dig their feet into his skin and form a tight mass.
Today, the second day of the Tisdale Honey Festival, Bill’s son Mike is being careful to scrape away any bees that seem interested in crawling up his dad’s nose. Two internal stings in two days might be too much, even for an experienced bee bearder and 30-year honey producer.
Read Also
VIDEO: The Western Producer Markets Desk crop outlook for 2025
Watch this video for a 10-minute update of Prairie crop conditions and markets. Bruce Burnett, a weather and market analyst…
There’s a low droning buzz as the young bees try to climb the cardboard and surround the queen trapped in a plastic container strapped to Bill’s chin. The bees latch onto his chin, his cheeks, his ears and form in great clumps underneath the cardboard bib, sensing but not seeing the queen on the other side. A few explore inside Bill’s shirt. Some can be seen crawling on his belly beneath the shirt.
After about 10 minutes of bearding, the bees have attached to cheeks, neck and under the chin. But they still haven’t fully covered the chin.
“Is that good enough,” asks Mike. “Should I take off the bib?”
Without moving his lips, which are host to a batch of bees, Bill says “Let them form.”
The bees swarm and wander for a few more minutes, then Bill bangs his foot and Mike removes the bib.
Crowd approval
He slowly rises to show the expectant crowd, standing in a buzzing mass on the other side of the glass, the completed beard, which hangs from his chin, making him a passable puritan.
The crowd is given sufficient time to ogle and take photographs. Then Bill sits down again. Mike turns on the vacuum cleaner and sucks the bees from his father’s face.
Once beeless, Bill rubs his face, then goes out to the crowd to receive the applause.
Today Bill was lucky – no stings.
But he said he was prepared for stings if they had come, knowing any violent response would have been counterproductive.
“Once you start, you just have to ride it through,” he said. “If you slap one you’re just going to hit a whole bunch of bees and get a whole bunch more stings.”
Bill first allowed his face to become a bee platform 12 years ago, when the beekeepers’ association used the practice to try to gain publicity and interest more people in the honey industry.
This year he agreed to do it again, which was just fine with people at the Tisdale Honey Festival Aug. 16-18, who swarmed around to get a good view of the main attraction.
Bill was obviously tired by the stress of the bearding, but remained calm and collected.
He said that is the key to success at bee bearding.
“If there’s a chance of anybody panicking they’d better not try it.”
