This past weekend bee experts, beginners and fans alike swarmed to Carbondale to attend the 2014 Heartland Apicultural Society Beekeeping Conference.

The event was created by the HAS in 2001 with the purpose to bring the beekeepers together for education, skill development and fun. HAS conducts the conferences while different facilities and faculty host it each year.

Regional and national vendors sold bee products and supplies such as protective clothing, books and honey. The conference offered an array of classes including candle making, honey house construction and queen rearing. Participants also had the opportunity to work with and train live bees. Nationally recognized bee experts spoke each day on various topics.

Phil Goodman, president of HAS for 2014, has been planning the event since July 2013.

“We thought SIU was the perfect facility, so I suggested it and next thing you know I was site coordinator,” Goodman said. “The conference was really good and we thought it turned out real well.”

Although official numbers have not yet been tallied, Goodman said there were more than 200 people each day from all around the nation.

People from all walks of life came to the conference for many different reasons.

Grant Gillard, pastor and published beekeeping author and speaker, traveled from his home in Missouri to come to the conference. He regularly attends bee conferences in hopes of meeting fellow bee lovers and getting the chance to “slip away”.

“I just love to go out with the bees,” Gillard said. “It helps me keep my sanity.”

Although, he described his time working with bees as peaceful, he does not encourage most people to get involved in beekeeping.

“It is a lot of work and people don’t realize it,” Gillard said. “It takes a certain type of person to keep bees.”

He said many people like beekeeping until they actually keep bees, because it is a lot of heavy, hot and hard work. He encourages people to think before they get into bees and get a taste of it before they jump right into it. Gillard said attending a conference is a great way to get an idea.

“Yes, it’s worth it,” Gillard said. “In part because I like what I’m doing, there is a financial reward, and in this day and age people look at you like you are a Renaissance man.”

While Gillard came to shop and befriend fellow beekeepers, Michele Colopy, program director for the Pollinator Stewardship Council, went for a different purpose.

“We are trying to educate people on the issue of the impact of pesticides against pollinators,” Colopy said. “Pesticides are shown to reduce the bees immune system so they can be attacked by pests and pathogens.”

She said a typical beehive that travels through the crop pollination circuit could experience up to 21 different pesticides. She said she is striving to show farmers that when there is no threat to the crops, there should be no pesticide and convince farmers to use the pesticides sparingly.

“There is a twisted view that pesticides increase crop yield, when actually it is pollination that increases crop yield,” Colopy said. “Without pollination, so without bees, you have no crop.”

No matter the reason for coming to the conference, all of the spectators had a commonality: their passion for bees.

HAS holds the conference annually, but the location changes yearly. The location of the conference in 2015 is still undetermined. Sources said that the conference would most likely be held in Michigan.

“We thought SIU was a great spot,” Goodman said. “The conference did a good job of teaching and I would assume SIU will host it again.”