Unique Country Primitives In A Shop Called Glory Bee

By Kaaren Valenta

After years of teaching classes and selling at craft fairs, Newtown residents Maureen “Mo” LaPak and Joan Allison have opened Glory Bee at 147 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6) to sell their handcrafted country primitive decorative accessories.

Located next to the Taunton Liquor Store, Glory Bee features Mo’s folk art and Joan’s handmade fabric and cut-and-pierced lampshades along with the work of several other New England handcrafters.

“We’ve both always wanted to have a shop and finally decided to do it,” Ms LaPak said. “We found this location and opened two weeks ago.”

The business isn’t the first venture the two women have collaborated on. Joan Allison operates a daycare center in her home, assisted by Mo LaPak and another staff member.

“We both have kids,” Ms LaPak said. “My husband, Dennis, and I have four: Matt, 16, and Tim, 14, who are students at Newtown High School; Tucker, 10, who is at Head O’Meadow, and Molly, who is 2.”

Joan’s family includes her husband, Harold; Jamie, 17, a senior at Newtown High School; Emily, 14, a student at the middle school, and Whitney, 10, at Hawley School. Their son, Harlan, died four years ago at the age of 16.

“His death made a big difference in my life – it’s why I’m where I am today,” Joan said. “I see things a lot differently now that he is gone. I go for my dreams.”

Harold Allison works at Hudson Scenic and built the winch that will control the ball at the (New York) Times Square celebration on New Year’s Eve. “The ball was redone this year. It is Waterford, six feet in diameter,” Joan said.

Mo’s father-in-law, Frank LaPak of Newtown, and Joan’s father, Paul Poeltl of Fairfield, are both making furniture for the shop that the women paint and finish. Mr Poeltl is a retired math teacher; Mr LaPak is a long-time employee of The Bee.

“They make plate racks, jelly cupboards and other items, and they also helped us get ready to open the store,” Mo LaPak said. “They made the counters and the bookshelves.”

David Millar, a Newtown High School freshman who raises bees, supplies honey that is sold in the store. His father makes mirror frames on which Ms LaPak paints scenes of Newtown houses and buildings.

The two women make traditional crafts such as painted canvas floor cloths, fireboards, and painted boxes, but customers are just as likely to find unique items like hand-painted antique sap buckets or lamps made from a chicken feeder or a pewter teapot.

“We go to flea markets, auctions and antiques shows to find things,” Ms LaPak said. “We’ll refinish them, or I might do a painting on them.”

The inspiration for the name of the shop came from the name of Mr LaPak’s former business, The Bees Knees. “We tried different variations and came up with Glory Bee,” she explained. The name is carried through with bees on many of the items available in the store.

The shop sells wreaths made with fresh greens and dried grape vines, dried flowers, and will offer herbal wreaths for occasions such as friendship, wedding, sympathy, and new home. The wreaths come with a card that describes the herbs that are used and their significance.

“We will be carrying a lot of herbs and gardening type things beginning in the spring,” Ms LaPak said.

There are primitive dolls made by a crafter on Cape Cod, reproduction antique samplers, and custom-made upholstered reproduction furniture from a manufacturer, Angel House, in Massachusetts.

For 10 years Ms Allison had a shop attached to her home in Maine where she made and sold pillows. Glory Bee also will sell pillows, along with simple custom swag curtains.

“I’ve been back from Maine 13 years and having been making lampshades that were sold through a local store for the past 10 years. Now we will be selling them here,” she said.

Glory Bee is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm, Thursday from 10 to 8 and Sunday from noon to 4.  For more information, call 364-1638.