31/12/2025
We were honored to have our flowers in their planters this past year and we are so excited to see this for the city of Bennettsville. 😁🐝🌼
"Thank you, Brittany Jones for your hard work!"
"Thank you, Laura Rost, Bee City USA Coordinator, laura.rost@xerces.org."
***BENNETTSVILLE BECOMES AN AFFILIATE OF BEE CITY, USA***
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BENNETTSVILLE, SC; DECEMBER 30, 2025--- The City of Bennettsville is the sixth city in SC to become a Bee City USA®. The designation was approved after a unanimous vote by the Bennettsville City Council on October 21, 2025, and review process by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Bennettsville joins cities and campuses across the country united in improving their landscapes for pollinators. The Bennettsville City Council’s action is the culmination of months of effort by Main Street Bennettsville to accomplish this affiliation.
The Council's vote was made after initiation and implementation of the downtown pollinator planters by Main Street Bennettsville. A community-led effort that was recognized by the Municipal Association of South Carolina’s Main Street SC program as the 2025 Inspiration Award winner for Outstanding Special Project. Inspired by the importance of pollinators for ecosystems and Bennettsville’s history of agriculture, Main Street Bennettsville established the downtown Bennettsville pollinator planter program. The planters promote downtown vibrancy and environmental stewardship, as they offer flowers and other plants that maximize benefits to bees, butterflies and other essential pollinators. Supported by sponsorships from local businesses, organizations, and community members, the planters are maintained by City staff and volunteers and watered by the Bennettsville Fire Department.
“Our Council understands the importance of sustaining pollinators for our local agricultural community, and we want to do our part to make the city more pollinator friendly."
-Mayor Tyron Abraham
“We are grateful to our staff and Council for supporting this important designation for our City. It’s only the beginning for our plans to lean into what it means to be a Bee City."
-Administrator, William Simon.
“Our board is thrilled that the City Council shared our vision for Bennettsville to join the Bee City USA movement. We can’t wait to get to work collaborating with the community on ways to support pollinators,” said Brittany Jones, who serves as the Main Street Bennettsville Executive Director.
Bee City USA is an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, with offices across the country. Bee City USA’s mission is to galvanize communities to sustain pollinators by providing them with healthy habitat, rich in a variety of native plants and free of insecticides. Pollinators like bumble bees, sweat bees, mason bees, honey bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, and many others are responsible for the reproduction of almost ninety percent of the world's flowering plant species and one in every three bites of food we consume.
“The program aspires to make people more PC—pollinator conscious, that is,” said Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces’ executive director. “If lots of individuals and communities begin planting native, pesticide-free flowering trees, shrubs and perennials, it will create large-scale change for many, many species of pollinators.”
“How each city completes the steps to conserve pollinators is up to them,” said Bee City USA Coordinator Laura Rost. “To maintain their affiliation, each affiliate is expected to report on their achievements and celebrate being a Bee City USA affiliate every year.”
Each affiliate should hold public awareness activities; publicly acknowledge the commitment to the program through a standing committee, signage and web links; and prepare an annual report on habitat enhancement activities.
Bee City USA especially encourages school gardens and educational programs for children.
The city has designated Main Street Bennettsville as the facilitating committee for Bennettsville’s efforts to engage the community in promoting pollinator conservation. The advisory board meets monthly and invites all residents of Bennettsville to offer their ideas for pollinator-friendly initiatives.
For more information about Bennettsville's Bee City USA program, contact Brittany Jones at 843-479-9001 ext. 354 or brittany.jones@bennettsvillesc.com.
For more information about Bee City USA, visit https://www.beecityusa.org/
For more information about the Xerces Society, visit https://xerces.org/
For information about four simple ways to help pollinators, visit https://xerces.org/bringbackthepollinators/
