What do you get when you combine cranberries, hot sauce, bees, and jelly? No, it’s not the world’s worst cranberry sauce. It’s the A.D. Makepeace Cranberry Blossom Festival!

Held at the cranberry bogs behind the upcoming Rosebrook Place development, the Cranberry Blossom Festival is a way for Makepeace to share the joy of the blossoming bogs with the public.

“It’s a beautiful day,” said Karen Makepeace of Makepeace Farms, “we have perfect weather, a nice breeze, and the bogs are beautiful.”

“We’re happy to have the opportunity to invite people here and give them this educational experience to learn more about our company and agriculture in general,” said Kim Houdlette, A.D. Makepeace’s Director of Events and Agritourism.

Much of the educational portion of the festival focused on the importance of bees to the growing process. A.D. Makepeace’s Glenn Reid and John Porter each explained components of the bee’s contribution to festival attendees. Each year Makepeace relies on native and shipped-in bees to pollinate the cranberry flowers.

“Bumblebees are great workers,” said Reid. “Sometimes they even work themselves to death.”

Porter, the Director of Agricultural Research and Development for A.D. Makepeace, presented his plans to create additional habitats in the area to reduce the number of bees that have to be inserted into the bogs by Makepeace.

“We’re relying on the community to help out, so talking to people here is a great opportunity,” said Porter.

Also promoting bees were Linda Rinta of the Xerces Society and Brian Wick of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association. The Xerces Society educates people on the importance of growing bee habitat.

“Look around at our landscaping, said Rinta. “Parking lots and forests don’t have wildflowers for bees.”

However, says Rinta, there is a silver lining with new developments such as Rosebrook Place.

“Some of these urbanization projects,” she said, gesturing to Rosebrook off in the distance, “you’d think we lose habitat, but we actually gain habitat because of all the flowers that get planted afterwards. So this is a great opportunity.”

Pat Kenefick, who was taking a break from the rigors of life in Florida to visit her son in Wareham, was impressed with the bee education.

“I think it’s very interesting, learning about the bees that are here. And we love cranberries!” she said.

“This is definitely one of the spotlighted festivals,” said Rick LeBlanc of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, who was promoting locally-grown produce. “[Cranberries] are the second-largest crop in the country, so this is a great opportunity to educate people.”

One of the chief educators at the festival was Alex Manchester, a cranberry farmer for Makepeace. Manchester was a guide on the wagon rides that allowed people to see the cranberry bogs in full bloom.

“It’s really exciting to share with the public, said Manchester. “I think a lot of people feel like plants kind of grow themselves, so it’s good to bring people out here at these critical times of year to show them the day-to-day operation.”

“The whole tour guide angle is just a lot of fun,” he added.

Not all of the day’s activities were purely educational. Festival-goers also had the opportunity to sample and purchase goods from a wide swathe of local vendors.

Among them was Kristi Marshall of Sprig Herb-in-Fusion Jelly.

“I think it’s a great event, she said. “Makepeace does a great job having fun things for people of all ages.”

Marshall displayed a variety of her homemade jellies to those in attendance, including some with “a little” kick to them.

“If this one is a 5, this one is an 8,” she said, pointing to her mid-level and high-level spicy jellies, which were out for sampling. Her spiciest creation, the “Grenade,” was not available to the public at the time.

Next to Marshall’s spread was Chelsea Fire hot sauce, giving attendees no reprieve from the hotness.

“You die laughing here, said Luis Ramos of Chelsea Fire. “You get people coughing, you get people crying. You never know what someone’s going to do.”

“I’m glad the fire department is involved,” said Suzanne Pelletier of North Dartmouth with a laugh after trying Chelsea Fire’s signature sauce. Chelsea Fire is named after and was founded in support of the Chelsea Fire Department.

In addition to out-of-towners like Pelletier, the festival also drew very out-of-towners like Terry and Sue Sullivan from England and their friends Simon and Jo Spiers from Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We’re lost!” exclaimed Simon when asked why they had attended.

“[Simon and Terry] were really excited to come here,” said Spiers.

“A lot of the cranberries go to England, because we haven’t got any,” said Terry, “So this is really interesting to see.”

“It’s great to see people come down and learn about this time of year on the bogs and see how important the bees are to us,” said Kim Houdlette.

Makepeace’s Glenn Reid agreed.

“It’s all part of trying to be a good neighbor and educate the public about what we’re doing,” he said.

Makepeace's Cranberry Harvest Celebration, the culmination of the growing season, will take place on October 11th and 12th.