The rumors are true! EAS has accepted MSBA’s bid to host EAS 2024; we last hosted EAS at Salisbury University in 2000. We are targeting the last week of July (Jul 28 – Aug 3) or the first week of August (Aug 4-10) for the Conference, but site selection is still in progress. 

Did you know that the first official EAS Conference was held in 1955 at the University of Maryland in College Park? 

MSBA nominated me to lead the Conference planning and I am now the EAS Vice-President and will be the EAS President in 2024.

If you have never attended an EAS Conference before, then you are in for a treat. Think about five days with over 500 crazy bee-loving beekeepers like yourself. That’s 2,500 beekeeper days packed into one week! Here’s what you can expect.

The Conference begins Monday morning with a two-and-a-half day Beekeeping Short Course with multiple tracks, levels of instruction; everything from totally a newbie who’s never lifted a frame, to advanced classes in queen rearing, comb honey, electronics and more. 

Starting Wednesday morning we have the Conference itself. Each morning you can expect national speakers on a variety of topics, major researchers with the latest scientific news, large-scale beekeepers with practical advice and writers you’ve always wanted to meet and ask questions. The afternoon will continue with multiple presentations and workshops. 

But wait, there’s more! We will have 30-40 vendors with all kinds of equipment to tempt your wallet and whet your appetite to expand your sideline business or your larger scale hobby.

It isn’t all books and lectures. There will be socials in the evening, an auction and banquet on Thursday and an Awards Banquet and closing Friday evening. There will also be tours to Maryland highlights for our visitors, and locals as well. (Maybe a meadery, maybe a ball game? We’ll see.) 

To get an idea of what a typical EAS Program is like, go to their web site at https://easternapiculture.org/, click on the “Membership” drop down menu and select “Journal”; or just click HERE. Check out the 2018 Summer and 2019 Spring Journals to see what’s possible. Due to the pandemic, the 2020 Conference was cancelled and the 2021 Conference did not have a Short Course. 

We are just getting started with planning this Conference and we need your help! We are still looking for committee leaderships to plan significant parts of the Conference. As we close in on the Big Week, we will need an army of volunteers to help greet guests, pick up speakers at airports, staff the registration and information desks, and help everything go smoothly.

At the MSBA November meeting I will outline the staffing areas where we need help and the current leaders you can talk to. In the meantime, you can email me at davidm033@gmail.com with your offers to volunteer, or just questions about EAS 2024. 

We are planning an exciting EAS Conference in 2024 and we hope you will be there with us!

David Morris 
EAS Vice-President (2023) 

davidm033@gmail.com or vicepresident@easternapiculture.org

[Return to November 2022 BeeLine newsletter]