Coming Soon!

February 17th - May 31st 2026

Anna Ranch, Waimea Hawai’i

Visit Our Waimea Exhibit

Make a Donation

As we prepare to open, we’ve had an exciting surge of interest in our field trip program from local schools. To fully support student visits throughout the four months the exhibit will be open, we are seeking additional funding. Please consider supporting this free community event and closing our funding gap of $7,500.

A part-time field trip coordinator
Docent pay
Educational materials and supplies

Mahalo Nui!

$50.00

$100.00

$300.00

$500.00

Custom Amount

Book a Field Trip

We are booking field trips for our 2026 Waimea Exhibit now!

Field Trip Scheduling

Become a docent

We are seeking docents to guide students and visitors through the exhibit. Docents are asked to sign up for 1 shift per week over four months. Docent pay is available at $20 per hour, or volunteers can have their payment donated to the exhibit.

Docent Sign Up

Testimonial from past docent: “I was naturally curious about the exhibit, but not expecting my literal AWE at the immense information provided, my sudden proactive interest in emailing a few old friends in California who keep bees but who haven’t heard from me in years, to watch Queen Bee YouTube videos, and to help people who enter the exhibit LOVE it! I don’t have to help them love it, though; each person finds their own way. For some, it is the live bees and finding the queen. For some it is the art. For some, it is the Talk Story. And for many, it is the documentary introducing the individual people and their dedication and love of beekeeping.” - Sally, Kona Historical Society Docent

Phase 1: Kona Historical Society Exhibit

Open April-June 2025

Hosted 250 students through our field trip program
2000 visitors enjoyed the free exhibit.
Original Documentary shown by PBS Hawai’i
Hosted 2 Community Events, including a panel discussion about invasive species with our island’s honeybee experts.

Mahalo for your support, attendance, and enthusiasm for our Kona Historical Exhibit!

See images from the Kona Beekeeper exhibit below

Kona Historical Society Membership

Enjoy our Documentary Trailer

Leandra produced an original 10-minute documentary capturing the beauty of Kona’s beekeeping legacy and its role in agriculture in Hawaii, the continental US, Canada, and beyond. The film can be viewed in full at our free community exhibition — next one February- May 2026 at Anna Ranch Waimea.

And streaming on PBS Hawai’i.

Community Buzz

PRESS: Kona Bees Save The World

https://citylifestyle.com/articles/kona-bees-save-the-world
Testimonial

”I was naturally curious about the exhibit, but not expecting my literal AWE at the immense information you have provided, my sudden proactive interest to email a few old friends in California who keep bees but who haven’t heard from me in years, to watch Queen Bee YouTube’s, and to help people who enter the exhibit LOVE it! I don’t have to help them love it, though; each person finds their own way. For some it is the live bees and finding the queen. For some it is the art. For some it is the Talk Story. And for many, it is the documentary introducing the individual people and their dedication and love of bee keeping.”
PRESS: “I want to share this unusual story with the Kona Community"

The Conversation, Hawaii Public Radio
PRESS: All abuzz: Kona Historical Society to open Beekeeping Legacy exhibit

Big Island Now
Testimonial

The ten-minute documentary brings Kona’s beekeeping history to life through stunning views of Kona’s picturesque bee yards and a look into the kokua relationship between beekeepers and landowners. This film is the first-ever professional documentary about Kona’s beekeeping industry.
PRESS: Did you know Kona's environment is so ideal for raising queen bees that it's become the largest producer of queen bees in the world?

Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau
Testimonial

The Kona Historical Society is proud to partner with exhibit creator Leandra Rouse to present The Kona Beekeeping Legacy Project. This project highlights Kona’s essential role in the global beekeeping industry through a captivating combination of a mini-documentary, a museum exhibit, and a keiki field trip program. This will be our first exhibit post-Covid, and we are thrilled to welcome guests to our historic site to enjoy this multi-media exhibit and learn about the vital role bees play in Kona’s agricultural landscape.

Celebrating Kona’s Hardworking Farmers

What started as a small historical research project to honor my beekeeper father on his 75th birthday blossomed into a multilayered community exhibition with an original documentary and live observation hive.

This multimedia project was created by Leandra Rouse, the daughter of Kona Beekeepers. The Exhibition Includes:

Interactive museum exhibit with artifacts, historical and original images, and educational writing.
Original 10-minute documentary by Leandra Rouse & Andrew Hara
Live observation hive
Original honeybee artwork by local artists
A keiki (children's) education field trip program
Historical research and oral histories archived at Kona Historical Society.

Curator's Statement

Aloha!

My name is Leandra Rouse. I am the daughter of Gus Rouse, a retired Queen Bee Producer from Kona.

As a lifelong resident of Hawaii Island, deeply rooted in its rich agricultural history, I’ve always been fascinated by the unsung heroes of our farming ecosystem: the honey bees. Inspired by my parents’ lifelong passion for beekeeping and significant contributions to the industry in Kona, I embarked on a journey to uncover the fascinating story of honeybees in Kona. All in time to celebrate Gus’s 75th birthday.

Over the past year, I documented this Kona agricultural history by gathering oral histories, producing a 10-minute documentary, and developing an interactive museum exhibit.

I worked in partnership with the Kona Historical Society to host the exhibit and further preserve the history of Kona.

I invite you to share in this community story!

What’s Next?

Help us bring the Beekeeper Legacy Project to life in Waimea! February 2026

Generous community support brought this project to life. We have had such rave reviews, we would like to bring the exhibit to a new home in North Kohala this Fall!

We're now seeking $10,000 to bring this interactive museum exhibit to Waimea. Ranching had a big role in bringing honey bees to the islands and we hope to tell the story of the paniolo beekeeper. Here's how these funds would be allocated: