The Bee Bee Queue

by Erin | Sep 28, 2025 | Zoominescence Artists 2025

BEE BEE QUEUE

NIGHTS

LOCAL ARTISTS

INSTALLATIONS

VISITORS

BEE BEE QUEUE

THE PATH IS ABUZZ.

Bee Bee Queue is an illuminated garden path featuring dozens of brightly buzzing bumblebees, inviting the viewer to check out some of our fine friends' favourite foods. This year, artist Trew Facks lays out a gently illuminated garden path consisting of luminescent, chest-high, softball-sized bees, serenely guiding the viewer to come along and share a sip of nectar from a large, illuminated clover pulsating gently with a purple, flame-like glow that has drawn them to the area.

Bees are an essential part of your backyard garden; without them, your apples wouldn't fruit and your tomatoes wouldn't... uh... also fruit. Did you know? As much as one-third of all food that humans consume, from fruit and veggies to coffee and chocolate, is directly pollinated by our busy little bee neighbours. Seeing as bees are so helpful in backyard gardens, why not entice them into your front yard with an equally appetizing garden?

Instead of planting a boring grass lawn, consider a tasty clover patch. You don't have to mow it more than once or twice a season; it takes far less water, requires no pesticides (WILDLIFE WIN!) or fertilizer, and it actively fertilizes the soil with its deep nitrogen-fixing roots! Best of all? Bees love it!

Bee Bee Queue is 3D-printed from biodegradable corn-based PLA, sourced locally from Canadian Filaments. The Bees are internally lit with low-voltage LEDs and individually powered by solar panels. This installation has been placed along both sides of the path to draw the viewer's eye, and lead their feet to the focal point—a giant clover flower. The clover features animated dancing light patterns powered by an Arduino microcontroller and addressable WS2812B lights.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

TREW FACKS.

Trew Facks is a local character and purveyor of whimsical Edmonton-themed creations. For last year's Zoominescence, Trew created Leapfrog, a human-sized Leopard Frog. In 2023, Trew and GABS teamed up to create a life-sized Fibre-optic Porcupine Lantern, which rode across the city in a bicycle trailer and caught a lift downtown on ETS On-Demand Transit on its way to the zoo. How will Bee Bee Queue arrive at the zoo? Only Trew knows!

Follow Trew Facks:

Night Flight →

High Park | Grade 3/4 Split

by Erin | May 14, 2025 | Uncategorized

High Park Grade 3-4 Split Project 2025: Students Learning About Bees

High Park Grade 3-4 Split Project 2025: Student ironing their beeswax wrap

High Park Grade 3-4 Split Project 2025: Student with their Beeswax Wrap

High Park Grade 3-4 Split Project 2025: Students look through glass towards bee hives. They are learning about bees.

High Park Grade 3-4 Split Project 2025: Students at the Zoo

HIGH PARK | GRADE 3/4 SPLIT

BEE CONSERVATION & BEESWAX WRAPS

We’ve had such an incredible year of learning around conservation here at High Park. My students in grade 3/4 chose bees for our focus, and several of our projects have explored this in meaningful and memorable ways.

In September, we started making beeswax wraps for our lunches in order to cut down on plastic going into the garbage. Each student either brought in a piece of cloth or selected one from class and ironed it between parchment with beeswax to embed it with wax and make it waterproof. They started using these in their lunches right away and to date we have prevented 260 ziploc bags from going into landfills. Students continue to use these each day and they last for years.

We had an in-class field trip in which we built bee houses for solitary bees. This was a challenge but helped so many students go from I can’t to I can with building. We learned about the importance of providing space for solitary bees to lay eggs in that they bring diverse pollens from faraway places.

For Mother’s Day, we learned to sew felt drawstring pouches and filled them with wildflower seeds that specifically support bees and other pollinating insects. This gift of a garden is sweet for Moms and further provides pollen and nectar for bees.

We also have scheduled some Pirates to join us! We learned that that is the nickname for beekeepers when we visited the Valley Zoo in the Fall. Two beekeepers are coming to visit our class to teach us about what it’s like raising bees in the city of Edmonton in their backyard. They will bring frames of honeycomb, a suit, some dead bees, and other items for this special lesson.

We would like to extend our profound gratitude to the Valley Zoo Development Society for our trip to the zoo last Fall. We would also like to say thank you to The Melton Foundation for their support of this program. This experience has been such a memorable one for our students, and we will continue to consider the bees now that we can see just how important they are in our ecosystem.

THIS CONSERVATION PROJECT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE
MELTON FOUNDATION.

St. Bernadette | Grade 1B

by Erin | May 14, 2025 | Pay it Forward 2025

ST. BERNADETTE | GRADE 1B

THIS CONSERVATION PROJECT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE
FIELD LAW COMMUNITY FUND.

St. Pius X | Grade 2A

by Erin | May 14, 2025 | Pay it Forward 2025

ST. PIUS X | GRADE 2A

THIS CONSERVATION PROJECT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY
UNION 52 BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.

St. Pius X | Grade 2B

by Erin | Apr 17, 2025 | Pay it Forward 2025

St Pius X 2B 2025 PIF Project. Children look at a video they created on a large screen

St Pius X 2B 2025 PIF Project. Students hold a computer showing their scavenger hunt for forest stewardship.

ST. PIUS X | Grade 2B

FOREST STEWARDSHIP

In Grade 2, we’ve spent the past few months diving into an exciting and important topic—how the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) helps protect our forests and the animals who live there. Through stories, videos, and discussions, students learned that the FSC logo—a tree with a checkmark—means the product was made with care for nature, people, and wildlife.

Each student created their own Google Slide presentation to showcase what they learned about FSC and why it matters. They proudly shared facts, images, and messages like, “Think before you buy, keep the forests high!” and “If it’s FSC, looks good to me!” The creativity and thoughtfulness in their work was inspiring.

We also made a short video featuring two talking trees to teach our peers and parents about FSC in a fun and memorable way. Students collaborated to create a school-wide FSC scavenger hunt using real images of FSC products they found at home and in our classroom. They’ve become incredibly observant, cheering whenever they spot the logo—on paper, tissues, packaging, and more! One student said, “I told my mom we should only buy the juice boxes with the tree checkmark now.”

We’re so grateful to have received a grant from the Pay it Forward For the Planet Program, which helped fund our Edmonton Zoo field trip. There, we learned how FSC not only protects trees but also helps animals by keeping their forest homes safe and healthy.

Our students have become passionate, responsible consumers, eager to educate others—including their families! Through this project, they’ve learned that even small choices, like what paper we buy, can make a big difference for our planet. To help protect forests even more, we chose to share our learning online instead of using paper. By creating slideshows and videos, we saved trees while teaching others about how to help them too! Learning about FSC has also helped us reduce waste in our classroom!

I am so proud of their leadership, voices, and growing awareness as stewards of our Earth.

THIS CONSERVATION PROJECT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY
UNION 52 BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.

Linsford Park | Grades 1-3

by Erin | Apr 17, 2025 | Pay it Forward 2025

Linsford Park PIF Project 2025: 2 girls hold a marker collection box they decorated.

Linsford Park PIF Project 2025: A girl holds a marker collection box they decorated.

LINSFORD PARK | Grades 1-3

RECYCLING

Linsford Park, grades 1-3, worked hard to create boxes to distribute around the school to collect markers and other writing utensils. They saved their empty Kleenex boxes and decorated them to provide each room in the school with a spot to put their recycling. Over the year, the classes filed and recycled three boxes! The kids loved being part of this initiative to help terracycle these items and divert them from the landfill.

THIS CONSERVATION PROJECT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY
UNION 52 BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.

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The Bee Bee Queue

BEE BEE QUEUE

NIGHTS

LOCAL ARTISTS

INSTALLATIONS

VISITORS

BEE BEE QUEUE

THE PATH IS ABUZZ.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

TREW FACKS.

High Park | Grade 3/4 Split

HIGH PARK | GRADE 3/4 SPLIT

St. Bernadette | Grade 1B

ST. BERNADETTE | GRADE 1B

St. Pius X | Grade 2A

ST. PIUS X | GRADE 2A

St. Pius X | Grade 2B

ST. PIUS X | Grade 2B

Linsford Park | Grades 1-3

LINSFORD PARK | Grades 1-3

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