Austin event coordinator, founder and beekeeper Tanya Phillips decided it was time to get the word out about saving the bees. "I had been to several funky chicken tours and had a lot of fun seeing all the cool, funky, and creative ways Austinites can express themselves with coops and I thought what better way to spread the word about helping the honey bee than to show off how COOL beekeeping actually is!  Ever since I started keeping bees, I can't stop talking about them, they are simply amazing!  It's hard to believe that 1/3 of our crops are pollinated by bees!  It's time we start paying attention to these little gals and we still have a LOT to learn!  So that's how my idea was born!  Once I decided what I wanted to do, I just needed to figure out HOW to go about it.  When I started researching for Austin and Texas organizations that help bees, I realized that there were some gaps in 'bee care' that needed a little 'propolis' to fill them!  I got together with my family and started a nonprofit to do just that, and Bee Friendly Foundation, Inc. was born!  I started to research how to start the bee yard tours and quickly found a couple of other cities already had similar yearly events going on.  See Portland, Boston, and Sonoma County to read about their annual beehive tours!  It was exciting to see that my great idea was already quite successful in other cities! Great minds think alike, they always say! ;) Official Sponsors: Bee Weaver Apiaries & Bee Friendly Austin, LTD.