Who knew that our summer reading theme, "Read on the Wild Side" would be so popular? Even bees are swarming to the Library to participate. Apparently this is the season for honey bees to swarm and find new places to live, and one such group chose a tree in the Library's parking lot for a rest stop. An alert group of shelvers spotted the bees on their way to work on Friday evening, and contacted Security staff members John Beres and Chuck Watson who roped off the area. Exterminators were called, but since this was a group of honey bees, they instead contacted beekeeper Ken Haller.
Haller owns Viking Honey Farm and is the volunteer beekeeper at River Trails Nature Center. He came on Saturday afternoon, and with the help of maintenance worker Tom Scuderi, removed the bees. He estimated that it was a swarm of 20,000–30,000 bees. After spraying them with sugar water, he removed surrounding branches and finally the branch that held the bees and shook them into a box that he had brought.
Haller assured the group of onlookers(who were expecting to see him in protective clothing) that swarming bees rarely sting people - especially on a sunny day. The bees swarm temporarily while they search for a permanent nest site. This particular group will now have a new home at the River Trails Nature Center. And proving his assertion that the bees would not sting, Haller calmly placed them in his car and drove them to their new home - leaving the Library just a little less "wild" this summer.