Organizers of a weekend pumpkin patch event said they will continue as planned, even after a bee attack on a landscaper working nearby.
Iglesia La Luz del Mundo had already announced plans to launch its Halloween-themed community event Friday afternoon.
“This is our first year doing this pumpkin patch for the community,” said Cesar Rosales, the church pastor. “We’ll have different photo booths and we’re going to have food also.”
Rosales says none of that has changed now in the wake of the bee attack.
He said the event will go on this weekend and every weekend through the end of the month.
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According to Kirby police, the landscaper was cutting grass on a neighboring property near Charles Conrad Drive and Gene Cernan Drive Thursday morning when he disturbed a beehive.
An officer found the man in pain, taking cover inside his vehicle.
“Then they started swarming the officer immediately shortly thereafter,” said Police Chief Roxanne Cardona. “They were hovering over every car and person that was in the street.”
Cardona said only the landscaper, who had covered himself in mud in an attempt to ward off the attack, was stung.
He was treated at a hospital and is expected to recover, she said.
An exterminator was called in to help and immediately went looking for the hive.
Cardona said he eventually found the bees inside a concrete cylinder, Cardona said.
“His goal was to exterminate the queen bee and hopefully in time that would disorient the other bees,” she said.
By Friday morning, there was no sign of any bee activity at the scene.
However, police said one lane of the street immediately near where the hive had been would remain closed throughout the weekend as a safety measure.
Rosales missed most of the activity Thursday but said he is looking forward to a different kind of commotion throughout the weekend, families showing up in numbers to enjoy his church’s fall festival.
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