APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The bees are buzzing right now in the Fox Valley. Appleton officially became a “Bee City” last week.
“We knew we wanted to use our business to do something good.”
Believe it or not, what’s good for McFleshman’s Brewery owner Bobby Fleshman is good for Lawrence University too.
Israel del Toro, Lawrence University assistant professor of biology tells FOX 11…
“My involvement in this is really, pretty much based on research and just trying to better understand what are the environmental queues that bees respond to make them do well in cities.”
A small white box is an apiary that will be up on McFleshman’s roof, and it’ll contain upwards of 30,000 bees.
On Wednesday, Appleton’s city council gave McFleshman’s the green light to put a beehive collection on its roof.
But Fleshman tells FOX 11 the plan nearly wasn’t meant to be.
“There was a complaint when we filed for this permit from a neighbor, and it was with regard to their patrons being stung, or the fear that they might be.”
Wells Fargo’s branch in downtown Appleton is neighbors with McFleshman’s.
In a statement, Wells Fargo Corporate Communications told FOX 11, with the beehives so close to its site, it worried about customer safety.
“With the amount of customer traffic at our Appleton branch and the flowering shrubs on site, Wells Fargo voiced concerns with having an apiary so close to our building”.
“Number one, honeybees aren’t repetitive stingers, so they’re less apt to sting, and they only really react if you get up and close and personal to them and really agitate them,” said Alex Schultz of Pollinablers Fox Cities.
“Bees are investigating us, but they’re not stinging or anything like that, and so we are perfectly safe in this distance,” del Toro said.
The Appleton Board of Health initially denied the brewpub’s application.
McFleshman’s appealed, pleaded its case and won.
“Yeah, I hope more businesses do the same. I hope we can make more spaces on roofs for more colonies,” Fleshman said.
And this wouldn’t be the first time bees would swarm the rooftop of a downtown Appleton restaurant. Rye Restaurant had two hives featured on top of the Copper Leaf building last year.
Sami Hansen, Rye chief assistant beekeeper, tells FOX 11 restaurant customers, and neighboring businesses were on-board.
“Everyone was just really excited just to hear how the bees were doing and to have a product from our roof in front of them at dinner.”
Incorporating honey into its menu will also be a by-product of this project for McFleshman’s.
“It wasn’t the intent, but it’s inevitable,” said Fleshman.
“To make a honey beer, we need a substantial amount of honey, so it won’t be a lot of beer that we make but, yeah, we’ll definitely do some.”
Before the Appleton City Council approved the beehives, Wells Fargo also said in that statement it would support whatever decision the council made.
McFleshman’s is hoping the bees will make their way from their current home at Lawrence University to its rooftop sometime this week.
