Tim Sterrett had written:
 
> >        I agree, but, alas, our group was advised not to show an
> > observation hive because yellowjackets often forage among the people at
> > the fair. Aggressive yellowjackets give the bees a bad name.
 
Allen Dick wrote:
 
> I would have imagined that the idea would be to keep the entrance screened
> and just show the bees off to passersby, especially at an outdoor market.
>
 
    ( Come on, Allen, give me a break for not stating that the observation
hive would stay closed up!)
          The market I referred to is in a carriage shed outside an art
museum. People who have paid to get into the museum can browse the fair which
sells crafts and some food.  The food brings in yellowjackets in autumn.
          And these are _Vespula germanica_, the German yellowjacket, an
introduced, aggressive pest that has become, in the mid-Atlantic (U.S.)
states, the most common yellowjacket visitor where food is exposed.  (Yes, I
know that yellowjackets are beneficial in the great scheme of things.)
         As I recall, someone was stung at the museum market several years
ago.  And, although beekeepers would presume that a yellowjacket was
responsible, the closed-up observation hive was nearby. The museum suggested
that the observation hive not appear again.
Tim
--
Tim Sterrett
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(southeastern) Pennsylvania, USA
40.0 N 75.5 W