LUZERNE — Throughout history, different cultures around the world have held bees in high regard, using them to symbolize everything from hard work and good luck to resurrection and even death.
For local business owner Lakota Maglioli, bees no doubt represent the importance of friendship. If it wasn’t for her and her husband, Mark’s, unexpected connection with a beekeeper during the pandemic, she might never have started on the path toward opening her own coffee and honey house, now located at 63 Main St. Luzerne.
“We started beekeeping because of John,” said Maglioli, 32. “In exchange for helping him out, he wanted to gift us his apiaries.”
The influence of John, who passed away from cancer in February 2024, is all over the coffee shop, from its name — Old Man John’s — to a framed photo of him near the entrance.
“He was such a good person, and he meant a lot to us,” Maglioli said. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this without him.”
Once Maglioli and her husband began beekeeping with John’s guidance, the hobby eventually turned into a business. They started off vending at different events around the area before opening a brick-and-mortar location in Luzerne, which celebrated its grand opening on March 20.
Along with the coffee and pastry shop, Old Man John’s sells honey, tea, soaps and beeswax candles.
Additionally, the shop has tattoo balm, sunscreen, cough drops and herbal antiseptic, all made in part from the honey Maglioli and her husband harvest.
Honoring her friend’s legacy is just one of Maglioli’s goals for the business. The other is to bring her family’s indigenous traditions and cuisine to the people of NEPA.
“That’s kind of been the driving force behind all of it,” she said. “Just because I like to talk about it and because people are so nervous asking about Native American things. So, I like being like a resource for them.”
Maglioli is Diné, which is part of the Navajo Nation, and she grew up splitting her time between Utah and summers here with her father’s side of the family.
“Growing up, I always knew I wanted to come back here,” she said. “I saw that this area itself is very limited in terms of demographics. So, I did kind of wanna expand, I guess, the Native American aspects just because back home, it’s so common.”
Although NEPA certainly has a rich Native American history, Maglioli said the culture is not as prominent and embedded into society as it is out West. In sharing more of that culture she hopes to dispel negative stereotypes associated with indigenous peoples.
“Just being open for four years now, I have seen things that have been kind of borderline racist, which I definitely kind of wanna knock out. We definitely wanna create a space where people can kind of like feel okay to ask questions, but also know boundaries and kind of understand a culture from like a deeper aspect rather than just assuming they know everything about it.”
Maglioli infused every aspect of her business with traditions from her family — from the tea blends to the pastries made by Domestic Goddess Goods, which she partnered with to come up with creations inspired by traditional Navajo foods.
Maglioli and her husband also incorporate indigenous principles into their beekeeping by caring for their hives with respect and love by avoiding harmful practices and allowing the hives to thrive naturally without chemicals or fake feed.
Eventually, the business owner hopes to put bee hives on the Navajo reservation to rebuild the population.
“It’s kind of like a stepping stone, but we feel like after this is kind of settled and can sustain itself, that’s our eventual goal, to then start actually helping the Navajo reservation itself,” she said.
Old Man John’s Coffee and Honey House is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
For information, visit oldmanjohnsapiary.com.
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