Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Time: 3:00PM – 6:00PM CT
Audience: Public (All Ages)
Location: Champaign Farmer’s Market (Champaign, IL)
Description: Join The Idea Store at the Champaign Farmers Market for a FREE craft event: build your own pollinator! They bring the materials, you build the pollinator to take home.
Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Time: 2:00PM – 3:00PM CT
Audience: Public (All Ages)
Location: Champaign Farmer’s Market (Champaign, IL)
Description: Connect with your community and nature with Illinois Extension’s Walk & Talks series. Each session features a short interactive lesson or activity, followed by a refreshing walk on paved paths. This session will take place from 2 PM – 3 PM at the Champaign Farmer Market. We’ll stroll the downtown area to take in all the beautiful blooms while discussing pollinators and their importance to our plants and the planet.
This program is free, but registration is required so participants can be made aware of meeting details. Please click here for registration.
For reasonable accommodation to participate or to register over the phone, please call 217-333-7672 or contact Rachel Mannen at rmannen@illinois.edu or Emily Harmon at ebaine@illinois.edu.
Date: Sunday June 28, 2026
Time: 1:00PM – 2:00PM CT
Audience: Public (Adults)
Location: Urbana Free Library (Urbana, IL)
Description: Learn how to attract and support pollinators using native plants. 🦋 “Gardening for Butterflies” is a presentation by Diane Wilhite and Gary Russell on the value of native plants and what you can do in your home garden to attract and support pollinators. There will be time for questions at the end!
Diane Wilhite is a Master Naturalist and long-time volunteer with Grand Prairie Friends and Champaign County Forest Preserve. She chairs the annual native plant sale held every year by Grand Prairie Friends in April – May.
Gary Russell is a Master Naturalist and long-time volunteer with Grand Prairie Friends and Urbana Park District. He is a birder and butterfly lover, applying many techniques to attract both in his home garden full of native plants. He also helps with the annual native plant sale held by Grand Prairie Friends, watering the plants as they grow in the greenhouse.
Learn more about this event on the Urbana Free Library website.
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2026
Time: 9:00AM – 4:00PM CT
Audience: Public (All Ages)
Location: Idea Garden (Urbana, IL)
Description: All day event touring local gardens, typically 6 private gardens and 2 public planned and implemented by the Champaign County Master Gardeners. The event centers on the Idea Garden in Urbana, IL. We have a large vendor fair, tabling and outreach opportunities or demonstrations!
Date: Thursday June 25, 2026
Time: 3:00PM – 4:00PM CT
Audience: Public (All Ages)
Location: The Hive (Mahomet, IL)
Description: Step into the secret life of bees and discover fascinating facts about how honeybees see colors, communicate, and navigate the world around them. This eye-opening look inside the hive will leave you seeing flowers, gardens, and the world…through the eyes of the bees! Take home a free-bee as a reminder of the secret life of bees.
NOTE: This is a free community class, but tickets are required due to limited space.
Date: Wednesday June 24, 2026
Time: 3:00PM – 4:00PM CT
Audience: Public (All Ages)
Location: The Hive (Mahomet, IL)
Description: Curious about how we “came to bee” and what the hive is doing this time of year? Join us for a relaxed talk about bees, beekeeping, and the important role pollinators play in our world- then roll a small beeswax candle to take home as a reminder that when we share our light, it spreads and we can Bee The Solution.
NOTE: This is a free community class, but tickets are required due to limited space.
Date: Monday June 22, 2026
Time: 11:00AM – 12:00PM CT
Audience: Public (Youth)
Location: The Hive (Mahomet, IL)
Description: Get ready to wiggle, giggle, and buzz your way through a magical morning at The Hive! Through storytelling, movement, and imaginative play, children will discover how bees, flowers, and sunshine work together to help gardens grow & food reach our tables. Then take home a little honey stick as a sweet reminder of the quiet kindness bees offer with the diligent work they do.
NOTE: This is a free community class, but tickets are required due to limited space.
Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Time: 3:00PM – 6:00PM CT
Audience: Public (All Ages)
Location: Champaign Farmer’s Market (Champaign, IL)
Description: The Land Connection gives away 100 Kids Kits at the last farmers market of each month. These kid-friendly meal and snack kits use local ingredients from your favorite market vendors. This month, in honor of pollinator week, the kit is Summer Berry Jam-sicles featuring jam made from locally grown and foraged fruits from Berries and Flour. Visit the Kids Kit booth on 6/30 to secure your kit!
Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Time: 5:00PM – 6:00PM CT
Audience: Public (All Ages)
Location: Champaign Farmer’s Market (Champaign, IL)
Description: Check out the Champaign Farmer’s market from 3-6 pm in downtown Champaign for some local food.
At 5 pm, there will be a live cooking demonstration from Illinois Extension using pollinator- inspired ingredients. We will have resources available about pollinator connections to our recipe ingredients, as well as Illinois Extension resources and programs focused on pollinators. Big Grove Tavern will have samples available to try!
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2026
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 PM CT
Audience: Public (All Ages)
Location: Rigg’s Brewery (Urbana, IL)
Description: Join us at Rigg’s Brewery for a family-friendly kickoff to pollinator week! Hear from two scientists from the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology as they describe their research on bees to support vitally important insect pollinators. During the talk, children can enjoy some pollinator-themed games and activities with our outreach team.