Hofmann Apiaries celebrated its history and restoration of the property by hosting a Pollinator Party 2.0 on Saturday, August 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The last pollinator party was a success, honoring the legacy of the Hofmann family and the apiary itself; this year was no different.
The event featured a handful of local honey vendors, such as Sun Honey from New Richland and another vendor from Minneapolis, where apiary owners Larry and Jan Hofmann lived before moving back to Janesville to restore the property.
Edenvale Nursery of Mankato was also present, sharing an array of bee-friendly plants and flowers that produce a substantial amount of pollen for the bees to eat. This reporter learned from the nursery that, like bees, some breeds of wasps are misunderstood; some breeds (except hornets) will leave humans alone and help flowers reproduce by moving the pollen between the male and female parts of the plant precisely like a bee would. Moths also help plants in the same way.
Along with the honey vendors and the nursery, a Waseca food truck called “Tacos la Reyna” provided food and refreshments. The Waseca Soil and Water Conservation District and the Waseca County Historical Society had stands set up, and the latter handed out free popcorn to visitors to the apiaries. Arsenault and Pengra played live music from 1 to 3 p.m. Visitors had the opportunity to tour the restored honey house and wax shed.
Although it was a long road to restore the property, the Hofmanns couldn’t be more thankful for the help from the Waseca County Historical Society, most notably Joan Mooney, who worked diligently with the Hofmanns to restore the apiary to its former glory. “We call her the patron saint of Hofmann Apiaries,” Larry and Jan Hofmann said. “Without her, none of this would have happened.”
The two had a quarter share of the property for years. In about 2022, they bought out the other Hofmann relatives, who had a share and were the sole owners of the property. They started living on the property full-time in September 2022. One of the main reasons for wanting ownership of the property, according to Jan Hofmann, was the legacy of what happened there.
They desperately wanted to restore the property. However, they didn’t know where to start. Mooney saw something about the Hofmann Apiaries when Dale Hofmann and his family held a garage sale a year after his father died.
“She was poking around a couple of other sites in the area,” he said. “So, she stopped in, and we started talking. She was very congenial. Suddenly, she asked, ‘What’s that building down there?’”
The building she pointed at was the “honey house,” which was a barn and the most prominent building on the property. “We were up on the third floor of the addition, and she said, ‘This place is fabulous. You’ve got to save this.’”
It was at that moment that the plans to restore Hofmann Apiaries began. “These two buildings – the honey house and wax shed – were the elephant in the room,” Larry shared. “We didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t have watched these buildings fall. But when Joan started naming a bunch of people to get down here to help out, that’s when I thought, ‘Maybe we’ve got a shot at saving this.’”
Everyone in the Hofmann family had many memories of the property. Larry didn’t know where to start, so Jan was first. “When we lived in Minneapolis – where our daughter Laura grew up – we always came here for the holidays. It didn’t matter what the holiday was. It was always about sharing the holidays with Larry’s parents.”
When the question came to Larry, he admitted it was tough to answer. “I have too many fond memories just to pull one out. What I can say is that I am so happy to be here. I’m glad that we are able to keep the flame alive and doing what we can to make this place shine and get the story out.”
The two’s daughter, Laura (a fifth-generation Hofmann), shared a few memories of spending time with her grandparents on the property. “Tacking on to what they said, the biggest memory out here is family. I remember one night, my cousin and I were standing out here with so many lightning bugs. It was cool seeing that in the middle of the country. We saw the Hale-Bopp comet here one time. I think we came down here specifically to see that.”
It’s little things like that that make the apiaries so charming. Even Casey, one of Larry Hofmann’s cousins, had a few memories of playing Cowboys near the honey house. One thing Casey pointed out on the property was a set of two swinging chairs connected together by a bar. That outdoor furniture came from a farm in Fulda, Minnesota. “It’s got to be at least a hundred years old,” he said.
Even for someone who lived in Houston, Texas, for many years, he held special memories for the apiary in his heart.
Because of the determination of the Hofmanns to restore the buildings on the property and the Waseca County Historical Society’s hard work to make that happen, Hofmann Apiaries has a place not only in Janesville history but in American History. It was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 and is the only historical apiary in the country still standing. Its beauty across its many acres of forest, prairie, and farmland makes it a hidden gem for the curious traveler and lover of history. And man, what a sight it is to see.
