It is rumored that the traditional honey fairs in the capital may be canceled. However, according to the president of the beekeepers' union, these fears of beekeeping lovers are in vain.
Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, canceled the annual honey fairs, which were introduced in 2004 by the previous mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, an avid beekeeper and inventor of one of the mead recipes. To be more precise, six administrative documents concerning these events have lost their force, including the order of the Moscow government dated 13.02.2004 "On the preparation and holding of the annual All-Russian fairs of honey and beekeeping products."
For several years, beekeepers have traded honey on sites that were provided to them on preferential terms. The advertisement was partly placed at the expense of the authorities, and the authorities also helped with the organization. Now beekeepers will pay for everything themselves and will also look for places for holding on their own.
Until now, beekeepers held their spring and autumn honey fairs at the Manege, in the Gostiny Dvor, in the parks "Kolomenskoye" and "Tsaritsino". Honey lovers from all over Moscow flocked there to buy beekeeping products.
Now it has been decided that they have no place at the Manege, since it should become a cultural and educational center, and these fairs do not belong to art. In addition, recently, at these events, trade has also been carried out in goods that have nothing to do with beekeeping, according to representatives of the Department of Culture. The sale of honey is also canceled in Tsaritsino, where the fair interfered with the guest parking.
However, the fairs were and will be held, since the order of the mayor of Moscow to abolish the relevant legal acts does not cancel the event itself. Arnold Butov, President of the Russian National Union of Beekeepers, speaks about this.
Most likely, in the fall of 2012, the honey fair will take place at the Crocus Expo international exhibition center, with the leadership of which the Russian National Union of Beekeepers has signed an agreement.
