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Tucked away in a corner of the Farm and Garden building, the honeybees furiously work in a sliver of a hive, encased in glass for fairgoers to closely watch and learn.

Live bees scramble back and forth in long tubes connecting the two observation hives to the outside world of The Great Frederick Fair, and Adam Finkelstein knows exactly what they're up to.

"They're cooking stuff up there," he noted. "Bee bread," or fermented pollen, to be precise.

Finkelstein, a Frederick beekeeper and president of the Frederick County Beekeeping Association, spent Tuesday morning at the fair educating passersby about honeybees and beekeeping as they stopped at the group's booth to look over local honey for sale.

Though honeybees and beekeepers have had a longtime presence at The Great Frederick Fair, this year marks the first time the newly formed Frederick County Beekeeping Association has organized the display.

The display is a collective effort among members who aim to disseminate information to beekeepers and non-beekeepers and to dispel misconceptions about the vegetarian honeybees. "They rarely sting out of the blue," Finkelstein said.

Amber and gold jars of locally made honey are for sale alongside empty Langstroth hives and honey extractors used for showing. Prize-winning jars of raw, amber and white honey, a beeswax crËche and candles are neatly displayed behind the observation hives, next to posters that describe honeybees' role in nature.

The county's beekeeping association formed last year with the purpose of promoting the craft and as a resource for local beekeepers.

The group of nearly 30 beekeepers —a mix of commercial and hobbyist beekeepers— meets monthly at the Fountain Rock Park Nature Center in Walkersville.

Mary Riesch, a member of the beekeeping association, said that taking care of bees requires a commitment to helping them survive and making sure they have enough to thrive.

"You have to work with them and don't expect them to take care of themselves or they might leave," Riesch said.

Maryland is not a large honey producing state, but Frederick County is the second-largest per capita beekeeping county in the state, Finkelstein noted.

Beekeeping is not a lucrative job, so Finkelstein breeds mite-resistant queen bees for commercial and hobbyist beekeepers on the side.

Riesch said she started beekeeping in April as a hobby at her home in the Catoctin Mountains near Thurmont and was forced to install an electric fence around her hives to deter bears after one attacked and destroyed them.

"They will rip the hives apart," she said, of bears. "It looks like a bomb went off."

Bill McGiffin, a Mount Airy beekeeper, also helps Finkelstein in his work with queen bees and said he sells his honey at local farmers markets.

McGiffin, who has been beekeeping for 18 years, won first place at The Great Frederick Fair for his white and light amber honey and for a close-up photograph of a bee gathering nectar from a flower.

The color and taste of honey varies depending on what flower source honeybees have primarily used and its pollen content.

Plants such as locust and alfalfa contribute heavily to white honey, while light amber honey is a mix of mostly wildflowers.

Basswood trees, which can be found around Frederick, also make a light, minty flavored honey that is rare, Finkelstein said.

Aster, dandelion, joe-pye weed, goldenrod and white clover are also Maryland favorites for honeybees.