On Magnolija square in Bitola, today and tomorrow, honey is tasted straight from the person who pulled it out of the hive. The "Meet Your Local Beekeeper" event is running for the third year in a row with support from the Municipality of Bitola, with guests from other beekeeping associations taking part.

Bitola mayor Toni Konjanovski visited the beekeepers and, according to the organisers, was briefed on the challenges they face. Careful wording, but anyone who keeps bees knows what sits behind it - drought, pesticide spraying on neighbouring land, imported honey of dubious origin on the shelves.

The Mariovo-Pelagonia Beekeepers association says the aim is for the event to grow into a tradition and to promote the role and importance of beekeeping in Bitola and the region every year.

This is exactly where an event like this earns its value, and it is worth more than it looks. When you buy honey at a stall from a man who tells you which village it came from and which flowering it belongs to, you are not just buying a jar - you are bypassing the whole chain of trade that long ago watered down trust in domestic honey. Direct sale is the only protection a beekeeper has, and nobody handed it to him - he built it himself.

The question the square does not answer stays open: what happens to those same beekeepers on the other 363 days of the year. Two days of stalls is good promotion. A decent purchase price, controls on imported honey and protection from reckless spraying would be policy.