More than 40 beekeepers and guests gathered on Jan. 27 at Fratello’s Italian Grille in Manchester to share congratulations at a torrential autumn honey harvest.

The guests included Merrimack Valley Beekeepers Association officers Spencer Lovett of Mont Vernon, president; Marise Evans Perry of Nashua, secretary; Denise Sarnie of Windham, event chair; Dot Miller of Hollis, treasurer, and John Hamblet of Lowell, Mass., vice president.

Lovett said, “Thank you,” to all who attended out of the more than 100-member club whose novice and professional beekeepers range in status from casual enthusiasts to hobbyists with one or two hives to established apiary owners with dozens of bee colonies on private properties with a diverse bounty of fruits, florals and pollen bearing trees.

The group also rejoiced at the successful overwintering through supplemental feeding and monitoring most of the members’ regional hives despite some frigid temps. Some anticipate bolstering the vigor of their colonies through a fresh infusion of six-legged, winged residents thanks to the addition of insects propagated down south.

Farm-raised bees by the millions from breeders in South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Georgia and elsewhere are mailed or fetched in screened 3-pound boxes early in the spring. Each rectangular container shelters around 10,000 bees – queens, worker bees and male drones – raised by respected bee suppliers in the temperate south.

The MVBA hosts monthly evening meetings, available via Zoom for remote viewing, at St. James United Methodist Church function hall in Merrimack. In addition, the club hosts an annual Basic Bee School of four once-weekly 3-hour sessions, also with Zoom access, which begins on Feb. 20.

New club members, the curious, and bee school registrants are welcome to visit online:

MVBee.org.