Hof der dingen: Honey jars from Meli

Who didn’t visit Meli Park in Adinkerke as a child? Who wasn’t enchanted by the innocent story of the birds and the bees? 

Let’s rewind to 1925. Eighteen-year-old Alberic Florizoone, fourth-generation beekeeper, decides to sell his own honey on weekends under the name Veurne Ambacht. 

Ten years later, around 1935, he turns it into a proper honey business: Meli. At the same time, Alberic opens a café with conference rooms and playgrounds on a site in Adinkerke. His goal? Pure marketing – he wanted to get word out there, to increase the visibility of his honey and tell the magnificent story about its production process. 

Visitors could study the bee colonies up close by using glass hives and tour the honey-spinning and jar-filling facilities. Alberic himself gave guided tours — often letting himself be stung on purpose — while explaining everything about the inner workings of a beehive. 

Initially, World War II put the brakes on the expansion of the site, but in 1952 Meli Park truly took shape. The original complex was expanded with three party halls and an exotic bird park with beautifully landscaped gardens. 

Meli Park became a household name far beyond the province’s borders and is considered one of Belgium’s very first amusement parks. With the arrival of Euro Disney in Paris in the early 1990s, the theme park landscape changed drastically. Parks became big business, and visitors became full-fledged tourists looking for innovative entertainment during their day trip. 

By the end of 1999, the Florizoone family decided to sell Meli Park to Studio 100, so they could focus more on the honey side of the story. To this day, Meli honey products are still on the market. 

Did you know Alberic originally came up with the name Meli as a play on the French word miel, only to later discover that meli is also the Greek word for honey? 

These honey jars were kindly lent to us by Jean-Pierre Florizoone.