AUBURN – Honeybees in the Heartland unveiled 26 sculptures in Auburn Sunday under the attentive eyes of over 600 people.

Bee designs include Bee Free by Suki Fischer, Agri-bee by Nancy Kite and Look, It’s a Picasso by 13-year-old Picasso Boettjer of Chester, Neb.

Boettjer: “The design? My dad and I collaborated on it. We decided to make it like a stitching of different fabrics to where the different patterns combine.”
Boettjer: “Uniqueness and how imperfection is basically perfection to those who seek it.”

Mandy Kohler of Lincoln said she designed the bee with fun in mind.

“Well, I wanted something and that was me in a bee. I wanted to honor what a bee was but at the same time I wanted to place some special features in it.”

She said she learned about Nemaha County Leadership Class No. 6’s public art project from a Facebook algorithm.

“I wanted it to be fun and a little queen bee and so that’s what it is. It has the big eyes, the mouth and the face and the personality. A little bit of spunk.”

Nikki Hayes, a co-founder of Aunt Bea’s Apiary, said the response to two of the bees at the county fair parade signaled a big turnout for the unveiling.

Hayes: “We’re just thrilled that the community came together and sponsored all these bees.”

Among the 600 at the unveiling was Kerri Kratz, who was an Auburn third grader when teacher Louise Howe learned that Nebraska had no state insect.

She remembers going to the state Capitol with 49 Calvert elementary students to attend a session of Unicameral. She said Nebraska made a good choice for state insect.

Kratz: “They are good for the Earth, good for us. I like honey.”

Clark: “Mrs. Howe’s class said that’s what we’re going to propose and it was in 1975 that the honeybee became the Nebraska state insect.”

The City of Auburn sponsored bees, which will be placed in Legion Park. Other sponsors include Kids of His Kingdom, Peru State College Foundation, Peru Impact Group, Village of Johnson, Auburn Development Council and Village of Julian.

Project Organizer Leslie Clark: “Oh, my gosh. I’m just blown away by the turnout. People have been following us on Facebook, but it’s another thing to show up and come to the event. I’ve just keep hearing from community people, really just from everybody, when they pulled up and came into the parking lot how, they’re like, this is crazy, unbelievable for the turnout.”

The bees will now be heading for their permanent homes all around Nemaha County.