Bee-a-Thon 2011 - Help the Bees While Having Fun!

On July 16, bee counters across the nation are hosting “backyard bee parties” and other garden events as they celebrate Bee-a-thon 2011, the first-ever online “town hall” event dedicated to our pollinators and broadcasting live to worldwide audiences from 9 am to 9 pm US-Pacific Time.  I'm writing you to see if you will help spread the word, through your network, friends and family, about this free grassroots event to help raise awareness around the plight of our disappearing native bees.

Bee-a-thon 2011 is a fun, interactive family-friendly event featuring top experts in science, conservation, youth engagement and education.  People can tune-in to Bee-a-thon anytime throughout the day from living rooms, gardens, mobile devices and “backyard bee parties” all over the world, to listen in and ask questions in real time.

Bee curious, bee aware, bee a good neighbor

Here are three ways you can spread the buzz and help the bees:

1 - Put a bee-counting widget on your blog if you have one. The "bee-o-meter" tracks the populations of honeybees across the country.  You can click on it to find the number of bees in your zip code.  Their goal for 2011 is to have one bee counter in each of the 43,000 U.S. zip codes. Supporting blogs and organizations will have their logo, name and a link back to their site placed on the YourGardenShow.com website. To get your "bee-o-meter,"   visit: http://www.yourgardenshow.com/news51.

2 - Forward this email to your network of readers, friends and family.  Invite them to RSVP for the Bee-a-thon here: http://www.yourgardenshow.com/bee-a-thon.

3 - Host a "backyard bee party" or other "rooftop" event.  Rally your friends and join Bee-a-thon for a day of engagement and celebration.  Downloads and other resources are available here: http://www.yourgardenshow.com/bee-a-thon.

Bee-a-thon 2011 is hosted by YourGardenShow.com to kick-off the Great Bee Count, a national Citizen Science campaign to count bees across North America and help shape bee conservation efforts.  To find out more about the Great Bee Count with The Great Sunflower Project, visit: http://www.yourgardenshow.com/citizen-science/great-sunflower-project.

The event is free and open to all.  We hope to see you there!