Fall Pollinator Event October 24 and 25 at Marin Ace

Activities will be buzzing around Marin Ace this October 24 & 25 weekend as volunteers from The Marin Beekeepers Association join San Rafael’s Mom & Pop hardware store for their second annual Fall Pollinator Event. From 8am-6pm on Oct. 24-25, Marin Ace will host a fall pollinator event, with a huge supply of pollinator friendly, drought tolerant, neonicotinoid-free plants for sale. 20% of all plant sales that weekend will be donated to the upcoming “Bee Audacious” Conference being planned by enthusiastic Marin Beekeepers. Volunteers from the Marin Beekeepers Association will be on hand from 10-3 to talk to customers about bees and planting for pollinators. They will also bring an observation hive.

Marin Ace strongly opposes the use of pesticides containing Neonicotinoids, a systemic insecticide which have been linked to the international bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). All of Marin Ace’s plants are proudly Neonic-free, and all pesticides at the store containing neonicotinoids have been labeled “harmful to pollinators”. Marin Ace is also working with Ace Hardware on a national basis to raise awareness of CCD attributed to neonics, with outreach, product changes, and education now taking place throughout all the 4,600 locally-owned stores in the US.
Marin Ace is locally owned by Marin residents Michelle and Jeff Leopold, the “mom & pop” behind the old-fashioned hardware store which opened in 2011 at the former Sizzler location at 180 Merrydale Road.

HOW DID MARIN ACE GET INVOLVED IN HELPING OUR POLLINATORS?

“Mom” Michelle Leopold saw a screening of the Queen of the Sun documentary at 142 Throckmorton in Mill Valley two years ago, and was immediately moved to action in stopping the use of Neonicotinoids at her two stores. As the owner of two local Ace Hardware stores in the SF Bay Area, Michelle knew she could make a difference, and immediately made sure that the plants that they were selling were neonic-free. (They were.) Since then, she has labeled the pesticides containing neonics “harmful to pollinators” and continues to work closely with the Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program (MCSTOPPP)’s Our Water Our World program. She has also worked with the national buyers at Ace Hardware’s corporate office in raising awareness throughout the 4,600 locally-owned Ace Hardware stores of the harmfulness of neonics to pollinators, and was delighted when the national plant vendor for the Ace co-op changed in 2014 to neonic-free plants, a change other “big box” stores have been unable to make as of today. As a leader of Ace stores’ move away from neonicotinoids, Michelle’s actions at Marin Ace were cited in the 5/15 TakePart.com article when Ace Hardware announced that they would move away from products and plants containing neonics.

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Marin Ace

Location: 180 Merrydale Road, San Rafael CA, 94903

Across 101 from the Marin County Civic Center at the N San Pedro exit

Phone: 415/479-9393

Website: MarinAce.com

Store hours: M-F 7-7, S-S 8-6

Fall Pollinator Event Questions:

Michelle Leopold

Marin Ace Owner/Marketing & Charitable Contributions

415-302-4055

Michelle@MarinAce.com