Bees Hunting Snow Cones Temporarily Close Owasso Park

NewsOn6.com

OWASSO, Oklahoma -- A popular Owasso playground is closed Friday after the parks superintendent found "a bunch" of bees buzzing around Funtastic Island Park.

David Warren said he went to empty the trash cans as usual Friday morning and was surprised to find a lot more bees than usual present at Funtastic Island, 10320 E. 116th Street North.

"There's a snow cone vendor there, and due to the lack of rain, the bees came over for the sugar water from the snow cones," he said. "It wasn't a swarm of bees, just a bunch of worker bees doing their jobs."

Warren contacted the local beekeeper and followed the man's advice, cleaning out the trash cans and moving them about 30 feet from their former location.

He returned a few hours later to find most of the bees had moved on to sweeter pastures.

"Everything he told us worked perfectly," Warren said of the beekeeper's advice. "No staff got stung, and we'll open the park as usual tomorrow."

The unusually dry June is causing bees to have to work harder to find food and water, the beekeeper said.

Warren said his staff will work with the snow cone vendor to keep the area cleaned up so the bees look elsewhere.