Amiret Busy Bees are celebrating a century of growing and goodwill
F OR THE LAST 52 YEARS, THE AMIRET BUSY BEES’ PIE & ICE CREAM SOCIAL HAS TAKEN place at the Amiret Township Hall, a quaint building, but hardly one suited for a big party, right? The quarters are tight and there is no running water.
But it has always been home to the big celebration for the Bees, a proud and dedicated group that is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
However, the party this year won’t be taking place there. Instead, the event is being moved to the Wheels Across the Prairie Heritage Center in Tracy. What better place to honor the Bees’ rich history than a museum?
“It’s pretty special — the things that 4-H does for kids and adults alike — it’s amazing that this could be around for so long,” said Jeanne Knott, who along with Katie Lanoue is a Busy Bees leader. “It’s great to see kids succeed, take on projects and have that personal growth, development and learning. It’s the best lessons.”
Not having the annual social at the townhall this year will be a big change, but Knott said the old building certainly served its purpose.
“It was always the location of the event, so why change a good thing?” she said. “Everybody just came to expect it to be in Amiret. Now, the highway department uses it for storage, so the last couple years we’d be hauling the signs over to one side or out the door for extra room. We’d bring in buckets of water for cleaning the floors and windows; we would just all pitch in!”
Of course, 4-H has undergone plenty of fundamental changes over the decades. 4-H started as clubs in 1902 — corn clubs for boys and tomato clubs for girls, Knott said. The Bees started out as a club themselves, consisting of five boys and five girls, “Universities tried to engage youth in rural communities in agriculture and scientific farming practices,” Knott said. “They would give these kids seeds, and they would encourage them to grow the seed.”
Tracy was home to Lyon County’s first corn club in 1915, and that was a state championship team the following year, said Knott.
Eventually, in 1924, these clubs became a combined co-ed program — today’s 4-H, which is run through the University of Minnesota Extension Service.
But gone are the days of practically every township — from Shetek to Holly, and Garvin to Gales — being home to a 4-H group. Tracy’s Comets and Garvin’s Hi-Fliers are no more, as clubs in surrounding townships have dissolved and have been absorbed by the Busy Bees, which continues to prosper after all these years.
The Bees are a far cry from the potato clubs from a century ago. While still rooted in agriculture, today’s clubs have not only carried on their devotion to community service, they’ve built on it, as the young Bees perform a number of community service projects.
Most recently, they worked at Wheels to spruce up the grounds and clean up inside of the buildings. They clean a six-mile stretch of ditches on Lyon County Highway 9 near Amiret, and every fall they put together “Farmer Bags” for area farmers. They also put together “Birthday Cake Kits” for the food shelf, and last year, they made tieblankets and donated them to the “Help Tuck Them In” bed project.
“They’re serious and they are proud of the projects they do,” Knott said.
The Bees will celebrate a century of fun, learning, growing and giving back at the museum with their big Pie & Ice Cream Social on June 23, which has officially been declared by the City of Tracy and Lyon County as “The Day of the Busy Bees.”
The traditional event, which takes on special meaning this year, has been in the works for about two years, Knott said.
The museum is home to a new Amiret Busy Bees 4-H display in the main barn, which traces the history of the club through old and new photos and artifacts such as 4-H shirts and jackets. All of the leaders throughout the years — from Annie Glynn and Opal Trout in 1926, to Knott and Lanoue today — are also shown behind the display counter.
“We knew our 100-year was coming and we knew we had to do something big,” Knott said. “We have special shirts that we made for our members, we have the display — everyone needs to check that out, it’s pretty awesome.”
The Bees will also have their “Grounded in Our Roots, Invested in Our Future” display at the Lyon County Fair, where they will also host a special reception.
