The venue was the Water Taxi Beach at South Street Seaport. This is a new beach, which initially strikes one as odd since beaches are generally - like mountains - a longstanding part of the landscape. The sand came from elsewhere. Which gives rise to all sorts of questions.
The Costumes were better than the honey-coated food. The chef's dictum that honey is not at its best cooked remains true. The most egregious offender was a hamburger in a "bun" of a honey-glazed donut. The most delicious was a strawberry, rhubarb & honey Popsicle (hence not cooked) made by the People's Pops.
As for the duct tape and pipe cleaners, you can see below and judge for yourself.
The best part of the costume, however, is that which you cannot see. My pockets were filled with pollen, pure local pollen. Now if I were a worker bee the pollen in my rear saddlebags would be quite visible, but I didn't have transparent pockets and it wasn't until I was lying abed (l'esprit de l'escalier, or a variation thereon, strikes again) that I had the brainstorm: staple clear plastic bags - full of pollen - to my pockets. Now it is highly unlikely that CSB will be going to any more Beekeeper Balls. He is a man of simple sartorial inclinations, and dressing in costume in not one of them.
In this he reminds me of Bon Papa. When my Belgian grandparents lived in Egypt in the 30's and 40's, costume balls were all the rage. And Bonne Maman loved to dress up. Somewhere - properly labeled, archivally kept, in its proper place because that is the way she does things - my mother has an album that consists entirely of Bonne Maman in various costumes. Some are more tasteful than others. And what about Bon Papa? Bonne Maman liked to say he always went as a headwaiter, that is to say, he wore a tuxedo or tails.
CSB went as himself, a beekeeper in white who can't remember where he put his veil.
There was much creativity to be admired and everyone was happy to be photographed. A favorite was the couple below who are not beekeepers but enthusiasts: those are lingerie bags on their heads as bee veils and they are wearing $4.99 disposable painters' suits.
I also liked the woman who wrapped herself in a tufted bedspread and became a skep. But the two couples below were the liveliest, and you can see why.
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