GREENFIELD — The city will host its 15th annual Bee Fest on Saturday, featuring the unveiling of the city’s first bee sculpture to be stationed at the Big E festival this summer.

The three-hour festival honors the Rev. Lorenzo Langstroth, the sixth minister of the Second Congregational Church who is known as the father of modern beekeeping. Langstroth patented a hive with movable frames in 1852.

The event’s founder, Sandy Thomas, said the newest “Beatrice the Bee” sculpture, which was sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) and painted by local artist Melissa Pandina, is a “glorious” representation of the state’s agricultural history.

“From Greenfield to the Big E. That’s pretty good, right? It will bring the whole pollination health story from little Greenfield statewide, and certainly New England-wide,” Thomas said. “It’s a beautiful bee. ... I’ve seen it and it is absolutely glorious. Fruits and vegetables, and I shouldn’t say more, but it reflects the agricultural history of the Bay State beautifully.”

From 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, downtown Greenfield will be buzzing with bee and butterfly costumes, music, crafts, games and other children’s activities. The festival will include bee education tables with expert beekeepers on hand to answer questions, music by the Expandable Brass Band, Fiddle Dee Bees and the Twice As Smart children’s choir. The “Bee Bazaar” market on Court Square will also be selling a wide array of bee-related goods.

The festival will continue at 10 a.m. Sunday with a free showing of “The Bears and Bees” at the Garden Cinemas, followed by a 5 p.m. spelling bee at Four Phantoms Brewing Co.

In anticipation of Bee Fest, the Greenfield Public Library’s Local History Room is hosting an exhibit honoring Langstroth, and featuring work from his 1853 book, “Hive and the Honey-Bee.”

“Think of this as a literary garden, with a Langstroth bee flying among its lines and branches,” Head of Borrower Services Jeremiah Rood wrote in a statement. “The self-guided program will be on view in the Local History Room for the month of May.”

Last week, sculptor Thor Holbek completed repairs to a beehive sculpture on Bank Row behind the Olive Street Parking Garage that he had constructed about 10 years ago. Thomas said this year’s festival will feature an appreciation for the reinstalled sculpture, which had been vandalized.

Thomas added that this year’s festival will also highlight a new pollinator garden outside the Second Congregational Church, which she said was planted with grant funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

“It’s native plants for pollinators and it’s going to be permanently installed at the church there,” Thomas said. “We just planted a couple days ago and it’s all labeled so people can use it as a demonstration for what they could plant in their own yards to attract pollinators.”

Mayor’s Office Communications Director Matthew Conway said the city is excited to see Greenfield’s bee history displayed at the regional Big E festival.

“We’re so proud to work with Sandy [Thomas] and the Bee Fest team on this,” Conway said. “It’s just such a great institution within the city, and we’re so excited to see it continue to grow and expand and pollinate across the area.”

For a full list of Bee Fest events, visit GreenfieldBeeFest.org.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.