Honey Festival · July 11–13, 2027 · Brookings, South Dakota
Brookings — home of South Dakota State University and the heart of Brookings County's agricultural landscape on the Coteau des Prairies — sits in the rich glacial till prairie of eastern South Dakota, where sweet clover, alfalfa, canola, and native prairie wildflowers create one of the most productive honey regions in the Upper Midwest. The SDSU campus — home to nationally recognized plant science and agricultural research programs — hosts this mid-summer festival celebrating South Dakota's beekeeping heritage and the distinctive prairie honey character of the Coteau des Prairies, a broad elevated plateau stretching from South Dakota north through Manitoba that supports some of North America's highest concentrations of honey bee forage. The festival features honey judging competitions organized by the South Dakota Beekeepers Association with classes for sweet clover, alfalfa, monofloral, and mixed prairie wildflower honeys; SDSU Extension apiculture educational workshops; demonstrations of commercial-scale honey extraction equipment used by South Dakota's large honey producers; native prairie pollinator garden tours through the SDSU campus; tastings comparing Brookings region prairie honeys with Black Hills mountain honey and Missouri River bottomland varieties; and educational sessions on the economic importance of South Dakota's multi-million dollar annual honey crop to the state's agricultural economy.
Type: Honey Festival
Date: July 11–13, 2027
Location: South Dakota State University Campus, 800 Campanile Ave, Brookings, South Dakota
Official website: Brookings SDSU Honey & Agri-Heritage Festival 2027
Honey festivals feature tastings, vendor booths, educational talks, and family-friendly activities celebrating local honey production and beekeeping traditions.
Discover 210+ honey varieties before attending, or learn how to read honey labels to make informed purchases. Explore our South Dakota Honey Sourcing Guide for local variety recommendations.
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