Jake Midgley Bees

Orland, California, United States

·

Roadside giants

✓

Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Two steel honey bee sculptures, which Caltrans said would stand about 16 feet high, mark the Interstate 5 and State Route 32 interchange (exit 619) in Orland, California. Local artist Jake Midgley made them as the centerpiece of a Clean California gateway project that Caltrans announced in 2022 at $2.7 million.

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

No recommended arrival yet

We have not checked a recommended place to arrive or stop here yet.

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Jake Midgley Bees

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 39.7469° N, 122.1972° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Orland bills itself as the Queen Bee Capital of North America, and since 2024 two oversized steel honey bees have been saying so to everyone driving Interstate 5. Caltrans's 2022 announcement gave each bee as about 16 feet high, with one on either side of the interchange with State Route 32 at exit 619 in Glenn County.

Caltrans announced the gateway in November 2022 as a $2.7 million project funded through its Clean California initiative. Besides the sculptures it called for honeycomb-like paving and new landscaping of rock, gravel and recycled glass, and the contract went to Vanguard Construction of Livermore. Caltrans put traffic at the interchange at about 2,500 vehicles a day.

The bees are the work of Orland artist Jake Midgley, whom Orland's mayor, quoted in the Caltrans release, called a local welder-artist, and whose bees he called locally hand-crafted honeybee sculptures. The city manager told KRCR it was an easy choice to go local with the artist once Caltrans District 3 gave the green light. Midgley told KRCR he had expected the job to take six months; the ribbon-cutting came about two years later, on 18 June 2024.

The theme comes from the local industry. The city manager said this area of Glenn County produces queen bees in quantity, packaged and shipped around the world, and predicted the sculptures would become a landmark for decades.

The bees belong to a working highway interchange rather than a visitor site, so they are best seen as you drive through exit 619.

Add a photo

PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

Two large steel bee sculptures stand at a public highway interchange, with honeycomb-patterned paving. This is a roadside landmark rather than a staffed attraction; expect a drive-by view from the interchange and no facilities.

ACCESS

One sculpture stands on each side of the Interstate 5 and State Route 32 interchange at exit 619, Orland. They are part of the public highway interchange and are seen by driving through it.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

✓

Current

Cowboy (Red Bluff Round-Up Museum)

Red Bluff, California

A full-size bronze statue of bull rider Lane Frost on the bull Red Rock, on display in front of the Red Bluff Round-Up Museum on Antelope Boulevard in Red Bluff, California, as KRCR reported in April 2025. KRCR gives its cost as about $260,000; the museum's page reports more than $380,000 raised in total.

Landmarks and monuments

·

47 km away

TRANSPARENCY

Sources & research

Something not right?

If this Big Thing has changed, moved or gone, telling us keeps the guide honest for the next traveller.

Suggest an update →Report a problem →