We had a larger tent set-up in a similar configuration at the Brooklyn
Botanical Garden, who wanted to hold a "bee day" in 2010, but were not too
keen on the idea of having any actual bees at the affair, except for a few
in well-sealed observation hives.

"Nonsense" said I.  "If there is to be a Bee Day, we will certainly show
people a REAL hive of bees, not just ant farms loaded with bees that are
liable to overheat in the sun."  Negotiations insured, and we built a very
very large observation hive, one large enough for a full hive and a
beekeeper, a modified Coleman Dining tent:

http://www.coleman.com/product/10-ft-x-10-ft-screened-canopy/2000009327?cont
extCategory=11050
or
http://tinyurl.com/k8h5wd9

to which we had added a solid floor, a plastic tarp to which we had added
several dozen grommets, and added matching grommets to the bottom flaps of
the tent, thus creating a solid seal.  (Nevermind that bees crawl up, and
fly toward the light, it calmed the Garden ladies' lawyers down).  The tent
really does assemble in less than 2 mins, as the sequence of photos on the
Coleman site show.  

Inside we placed a full hive of bees, moved at midday, leaving most foragers
to come home to a nuc. A beekeeper or two would enter and show those who
gathered around the tent the bees on frames, the brood, and the queen in a
nearly continuous show and Q&A session from 10am to 6pm, in 1/2 hour shifts.
No one wore any veils or gloves, and no one took any stings, but we did give
the hive a break now and again, and there was a small box with a queen
pheromone lure and a wet sponge suspended from the inside peak of the tent
to attract the bees that would otherwise beat themselves to death against
the screening.

I think they said that half a million people attended that day.

Some photos, taken through the screening, are here. Just found them with the
Google:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=14331765@N02&q=Bee%20day

After sundown, the last of the bees went into the hive, and the hive went
back into the Volvo for the drive back to its roof.

On the other hand, maybe the hive is tented to prevent a virgin queen from
flying off and falling in with the wrong sort of crowd.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html