Peterborough will be buzzing with excitement on Saturday (June 24) as local volunteer organization Peterborough Pollinators leads a bike tour in celebration of National Pollinator Week, on now until June 25, and the city reaffirms its status as a ‘Bee City’ and proclaims Pollinator Week in Peterborough.
Beginning at Millennium Park at 2 p.m. on Saturday, the two-hour “Pedals & Pollinators” bike tour will visit several private and public pollinator gardens in Peterborough’s downtown core.
Peterborough Pollinators is a citizen-led initiative founded by Carlotta James and Jo Hayward-Haines. Formed in November 2015 through the Peterborough Dialogues initiative, the volunteer group meets weekly to explore ways to create pollinator friendly spaces within the community.
“We recognized that the population of pollinators was just precipitously descending,” says Hayward-Haines. “We need pollinators so that we can grow our vegetables. There are places where the population was so depleted that people had to pollinate plants by hand. We don’t want to get there, right? We want to respect the natural world enough so that we can align ourselves with the natural function of things and support it to help all of us survive, including pollinators.”
Through the organization, Peterborough is approaching 500 pollinator-friendly garden spaces.
That’s why James and Hayward-Haines chose to celebrate National Pollinator Week by sharing these gardens, and observing the pollinator communities they support. The “Pedals & Pollinators” event will take cyclists on an 8.5-kilometre bike route to 13 gardens.
MAP: Pedals & Pollinators bike tour
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Participants are to meet at the Silver Bean Café in Millennium Park at 1:45 p.m. with their bicycles, water bottles, and phones (to record observations and take photos). The bicycle tour is mostly flat with frequent stops, making it accessible for the whole family including young children. Participants are welcome to join for pieces of the tour should they be unable to complete the whole ride.
“It’s an initiative to build deeper and closer community,” explains Hayward-Haines. “And, obviously, to rescue the monarch butterfly and other pollinators.”
Public gardens on the route include the Library Commons, Hutchinson House, Fleming Park, Kawartha Credit Union, St. Lukes, Butterfly Memorial, and public gardens maintained by the Peterborough Pollinators. Several unique private gardens will also be visited.
At each of the gardens, a minute of stillness and silence will be practised so participants can observe the happenings and potentially see pollinators in action. An educator will be situated at the garden to share more information on how it supports pollinators.
Hostas, succulents, edible plants, and even some rare native species like the eastern prickly pear cactus can be seen throughout the afternoon.
One of the primary species you can expect to find on the tour are various milkweeds. According to Hayward-Haines, this is a “staple plant” for pollinators, but was once commonly removed from gardens as they were considered weeds. Fortunately, Hayward-Haines explains, the public has come to view it as a very necessary plant and it is once again easy to find.
“Now anybody with a pollinator garden would be encouraging milkweed, because it’s a primary pollinator and a primary plant for monarch butterflies,” Hayward-Haines notes, adding that monarchs, in fact, will only lay their eggs on milkweed.
The “Pedal & Pollinators” bike tour comes just as Peterborough gains recognition as a Bee City from Bee City Canada, joining 40 other cities across Ontario and almost 80 across the nation. The certification program recognizes cities that commit to expanding pollinator habitat, increasing public education on the benefits of pollinators, and annually celebrating Pollinator Week.
“That’s a good sign,” Hayward-Haines says, explaining that more education and support for bees will lead to the support of other pollinators. “It’s all the sensibility and how it feels to come together to recognize the truth and the validity of what bees do in our ecosystem. I think it’s important to remember that we’re allied with the natural world and it’s constantly evolving. Once we discover the interconnectedness of the natural world, it’s really thrilling and exciting.”
Peterborough city councillor Joy Lachica, chair of the city’s environment and climate change portfolio, will be at “Pedals & Pollinators” at 2 p.m. to read Mayor Jeff Leal’s official proclamation of June 19 to 25 as Pollinator Week in the City of Peterborough and to reaffirm the city’s status as a Bee City, after city council endorsed the designation in June 2022.
Hayward-Haines remains hopeful the “Pedals & Pollinators” event will bring people together to learn and recognize the importance of pollinators.
“When people come together in genuine ways, then really significant things emerge, and I think that’s the zeitgeist behind (Peterborough) Dialogues. We’ve just expanded that into reality by not just sitting around talking about it, but making it happen.”
With help from Peterborough Pollinators, the newly appointed Bee City will be hosting its first Monarch Butterfly festival this fall, which will include a marathon along the border. More information will be coming soon.
Peterborough Pollinators meets every Monday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. to do garden maintenance on the city’s public pollinator gardens.
For more information on Peterborough Pollinators or the “Pedal & Pollinators” event, visit www.peterboroughpollinators.com or visit them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
