Palisade, Colorado

April 9, 2022

Spring has officially sprung in Palisade, Colorado with the 13^th Annual International Honeybee Festival which took place today on the town plaza from 11am to 4pm. 

I personally got there around noon, and unfortunately missed the opening ceremonies AND the musical act I was interested in hearing, but other than that, it seemed as though a wonderful time was had by all. 

Since the pandemic, I’ve rarely been out in public, and it did seem a little disconcerting at first when I saw the crowd milling around between the arts and crafts booths, but I adjusted as best I could and had a fine time. 

Ran into some girlfriends from church, and we had a nice chat. They were on their way out just as I was on my way in. 

I Took a walk through The Blue Pig Gallery, one of my favorite stops in town.  They’ve got some beautiful stuff in there!  Lots of art of all kinds can be found there, including paintings and photography from local artists.   Since it was so busy, I didn’t stop to chat with anyone I knew, but I’ll make my way back in the next couple weeks, I’m sure.

The International Honeybee Festival is a nonprofit organization that works to educate the public about the worldwide crisis of honeybee colony collapse and to support a healthy honeybee population worldwide.  This is emphatically important in agriculture, which the town of Palisade is famous for, with its incredible Palisade Peaches, and other fruit trees including apples, pears, and apricots.  In the last decade or so it’s also become a well-known viticulture area, with plenty of wineries and some award winning vintages emerging from The Grand Valley.  To learn more about The International Honeybee Festival you can follow this link:  https://palisadehoneybeefest.org/history/

Some of the sponsors of the event included The Blue Pig Gallery, Meadery of The Rockies, and Grande River Vineyards, among others. 

After checking out all the arts and crafts booths that lined the street, I stopped for lunch at 13 Brix Cider Bistro.  When I got there, it was super busy!  It was about 1pm. I was seated after a short wait.  I was a party of one, and I got a nice seat by the window where I could look out and see what was going on.  I was surprised at how busy the craft fair continued to be the whole time I was there.  The crowd thinned a little, but I think everyone was so glad to be out again after two long years of solitude, that they just kept coming! 

I ordered a flight of cider to sip on while I was waiting for my lunch.  The flight included three different flavors:  Black Cherry, “Just Peachy” Peach Cider, and Blueberry Lavender.  All of these ciders are made with fruit grown locally!  They were all good, but my favorite was the Black Cherry, which is the first one I tasted.  OMG delicious!  If you’re a person who likes a tarter cider, I would recommend the peach.  The last one I tasted had some spices in it that tasted a bit like pie spices – wonderful and very subtle. 

And the food.  The food!  I ordered the Jambon, an iconic French sandwich made with hand-cut ham, Swiss cheese, then slathered with creamy French butter on a freshly baked demi-baguette.  It came with a side of French onion soup, which I practically inhaled, it was so good. 

If you just can’t make it to Provence this year, I recommend coming to Palisade for the Lavender Festival in late June, and eating your way through town, beginning with lunch at 13 Brix Cider Bistro.