Kernersville’s own Lighthouse Candle Factory has advanced to the final round in this year’s “Coolest Thing Made in NC” competition, and online voting ends Thursday.
Scope News spoke to Rodney Overman at the store, located at 121 Shields Park Drive, about the support the business has received throughout the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce-sponsored contest.
Despite not knowing exactly what led to Lighthouse Candle Factory’s initial nomination, he emphasized the company’s unique candle-making process as the reason it has made it to the final round of 11 small- and medium-sized businesses across the state.
“Everything is custom-made,” he said. “We have a proprietary wax blend and a proprietary pour process.”
The business has local roots dating back nearly three decades, and began when its innovative founder decided to take her disdain for mass-produced candles into her own hands.
“The lady who started it was upset with store-bought candles because of their performance,” Overman said. “She hated candles that tunneled in the middle, and if you could get them to burn all the way they didn’t smell the same all the way through.”
After four years of perfecting the process and fragrances used in her products, Lighthouse Candle Factory was born.
Following the founder’s sudden death last year, Rebecca Overman, Rodney’s daughter and a longtime fan of the company’s candles, bought Lighthouse Candle Factory and carries on the closely guarded process that makes these products so popular.
She released a statement after the business was named a finalist in the competition.
“We are extremely honored to have our products nominated for the 2024 Coolest Thing Made in NC contest,” she said. “We are thrilled that we have made it into the finals with such a competitive field of great products.”
This year’s contest had the most nominations ever, but both Rebecca and Rodney Overman referenced the process itself as a key factor in the setting Lighthouse Candle Factory apart.
“We pour our candles twice, and nobody else that we know of in the country does that,” Rodney Overman told us. “It takes us two days to make a … one-color candle.”
He also stressed that only “top-of-the-line oils” are used — along with an exclusive odor eliminator he said the company’s founder created “because her husband smoked and she … couldn’t stand the way the house smelled.”
The lineup currently consists of more than 80 fragrances and an array of custom-designed candles. Click here to cast a vote in the “Coolest Thing Made in NC” contest.
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