Tanger Outlets San Marcos celebrates start of beekeeping season

Staff Reports

SAN MARCOS – Tanger Outlets San Marcos is abuzz with excitement for another season of urban beekeeping. As part of Tanger’s broader sustainability focus, the center’s collaboration with Alvéole, a social beekeeping company, involves continued care for San Marcos’s honeybee hive.

This habitat provides hives and homes for the country’s declining bee population, while offering the community an opportunity to play a role in the initiative through special events and activations at the center. The Alvéole beehives mark just one facet of Tanger Outlets’ commitment to environmental responsibility, with additional ongoing projects such as tree planting programs, electric vehicle charging stations, LEED projects and solar panels installed at its centers.

Tanger Outlets San Marcos’s beekeeping program began in 2021, when shoppers swarmed to participate in events and tutorials in queen spotting, feeding, harvesting and winterizing, as well as educational workshops hosted by Resident Beekeeper Anna Poholek. Last season, the center’s hive hosted thousands of bees, who travelled millions of miles and produced 100 jars of local honey.

“We are eager to begin this exciting new season with our winged residents,” said Tanger Outlets San Marcos Marketing Director, Allison Murphy. “These upcoming workshops and hive visits will be an engaging way to teach our shoppers and team members about the vital part honeybees play in our community’s ecosystem.”

The Tanger Outlets San Marcos 2022 beekeeping season is set to be a sweet one! Beekeeper Anna Poholek will lead shoppers in a variety of hands-on, family-friendly events and workshops, while providing education about these important pollinators, their environmental impact and the benefits of urban beekeeping. In addition, shoppers can follow along online as the beekeeper makes regular visits to the center to maintain and care for the colonies.

Shoppers can visit the bees’ online profile at MyHive to see how they’re doing, discover their foraging range and check out photos, videos and upcoming beekeeper visit dates.

For more information on upcoming workshops, please visit tangeroutlets.com/sanmarcos and follow along on Facebook and Instagram.