Western Bee turns 50
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POLSON — Western Bee in Polson is celebrating 50 years serving customers with beehives this year. They are the third-longest running beekeeper business in the United States, employing up to 70 people from the local area, according to their website.
Western Bee’s products are made from Ponderosa Pine and Western Inland Cedar
In the mid-1980s into the early ‘90s, they manufactured wooden toys for the Playskool and TootsieToy toy lines including cobbler benches, building blocks, and desktops. Since the early ‘90s, they’ve also provided clear pine cut stock to finger-joint manufacturers on a regular basis, and started manufacturing wood pellets from scrap wood not usable for bee supplies. Recently Western Bee started producing shaving bales used in horse stalls, livestock trailers and dog kennels as a way to utilize renewable resources.
Western Bee networks with about 15-20 dealers across the U.S. and Canada, and supplies bees to local beekeepers/hobbyists one time each spring.
