Kathy Shaw, President of Beeswax Candle Company in Downtown Lynchburg will be our guest speaker this month. Their candles are hand-poured in the upper level of their building, where the walls are exposed brick, the original foundation built in the late 1890s. Downstairs, they have a small gallery, where all of their friends and customers come to visit, and fill all of their candle needs. For more information, please visit www.beeswaxcandleco.com.
Past Meetings and Events
Setting up Anthony Rago’s hive.
April 16, 2026 Club Meeting
The speaker for April’s meeting was Davanna McClellan. She addressed her recent research on the potential medicinal uses of Lantern fly “honey”. Davanna is a junior at Liberty University and is the president of Liberty’s beekeeping club. She is pursuing a degree in Zoo & Wildlife Biology and hopes to someday work in the field or in a zoo.
Adult and Nymph Lantern Fly
Nymphs hatch in spring and develop into adults by summer.
Davanna McClellan
Davanna and club member, Dr. Morgan Horning, are working on a research project involving European honeybees and the invasive spotted lanternfly. Their project examines the differences in the antimicrobial performance of wildflower honey and honey contaminated with spotted lantern fly honeydew. The team decided to undertake this research because honey is used as medicine, and if it is found that one honey outperforms the other, then that specific type of honey could be marketed as more effective against bacteria.
Check out our photo gallery page to see the swarm pictures sent in by our club members.