A Crafty Success

By Corinne Minard

Eloise Drenner is a perfect example of the accidental businesswoman. She did not start making crafts to sell them. And she did not start selling them in hopes of one day owning a store. While she did not originally plan to own a business, she’s been the owner of Weaving Stitches (a peculiar mix of home décor store and handmade craft shop) for almost 15 years and doesn’t see that ending any time soon. “It’s pretty much my baby,” she says.

Eloise started this crafting venture by making items she loved. “I’ve always sewn and I just started making baskets,” says Eloise. While she started making baskets and stuffed creatures for the fun of it, she eventually found herself selling them at craft shows as well. Soon, she was behind a table every weekend. Eloise says, “My house was getting so full of product that I needed to get out of my house and into a store.”

To make room for her expanding business, Eloise opened her own storefront to sell her crafts. To keep up with demand, Eloise began buying from other vendors. Along with her work, she sold painted signs, dishes, candles and other forms of home décor. “It took 10 years. It wasn’t something that happened overnight. It was mostly gift items to start with and then I got really interested in home décor, enough to start helping people decorate their houses,” Eloise says.

She would eventually move to two other locations and cut shows from her schedule completely to keep up with the business. When she moved to the current location and its 4000-square-foot showroom, she asked herself what was more important: her crafts or the business. She says, “I asked God, ‘What do you want from me? What’s your purpose for me?’” Eloise found that she wanted to be able to spend more time helping customers and stopped making her own product completely.

What started as a platform for Eloise’s crafts has instead become a store that lets Eloise help people design their homes. “I love to decorate,” she says, and she loves to show people different ways to do it. The store is divided into sections and each section is filled with displays. Using furniture she’s bought from others as display pieces, she’s worked to fill the store with different examples of what their home could be.

A friendly woman who smiles while she speaks, Eloise uses her approachability to help her customers. “I want to be able to read you and know what you like, not just trying to push my product, but listen to you and know what you like and please you because if I don’t please you to start with, you won’t come back. So I listen real hard to what you like and try to get on your page,” says Eloise.

She works to keep the place homey. With the antique furniture, the oldies music and the staff that has been with her for years, she works to keep the place a reflection of herself. “This is where I can show people who I am and who I am through God. I believe God gave me this place ... and he wants me to let my light shine so you can see God through me. That’s what I believe my purpose is here,” she says.

Somerset Woman Grows Zeal for Plants

by Megan Greve

Spring is just around the corner and thoughts of planting and growing are filling the minds of many. Some look forward to growing flowers to beautify their yards, while the lure of fresh herbs and vegetables make others’ mouths water. For Somerset Herbs owner Margaret Wince, both of these spring fevers hold appeal. She works to make Somerset Herbs a good place to stop while stocking up for the growing season.

Owner Margaret Wince opened Somerset Herbs about 10 years ago because she wanted a career change from teaching and she and her husband wanted to have a shop closer to home.

“We just wanted to have a business for ourselves on our own property as we’re growing things,” Margaret says. She also explains that the store has changed throughout the past decade, morphing from a wholesale herb store for restaurants in Columbus to what it is today: a shop that sells potted plants, herbs and decorative perennials.

Somerset Herbs is a seasonal store, with most of the business coming in April, May and June. To add to their business, the Winces also travel to a Columbus farmers’ market in the spring, summer and fall. In the wintertime they participate in a small, indoor farmers’ market in Worthington. Margaret says they enjoy the variety of customers they meet at these farmers’ markets, “from the old-fashioned home gardeners to people who want to decorate their yards with really fancy plants.”

Apart from plants and herbs, Somerset Herbs also sells produce during the summer months. Margaret says they don’t grow your regular crops, however.

“We don’t do corn and zucchini and stuff like that,” she explains. Instead, the Winces sell and grow such plants as garlic, heirloom tomatoes and shitake mushrooms. Margaret says she and her husband like learning about foods that people may not be so familiar with.

“There’s a whole world of alternate foods. And when you get into the farm market culture you understand there are a lot of people doing a lot of nifty things that are off the beaten path,” she says.

Margaret explains that she enjoys owning the store for many reasons, including the freedom to make her own decisions and try new things. “It is also an ongoing challenge which enriches me personally,” she continues, “and it gets a little of your artistic needs fulfilled as well.”

Margaret maintains that the zeal for growing and being creative with plants are what her store, as well as her attitude toward it, are all about. “We’re not in this for the capitalist portion of it,” she says. “We do need to pay our bills, but we’re not shop owners as much as we are growers and idea people.”

Cambridge Cowboy Pays Homage to Gunslingers

by Brittany Picklesimer

Boasting one of the largest collections of cowboy memorabilia in the Eastern United States with 15,000 pieces, Howard Cherry’s favorite pieces of his impressive collection remain the clothes on his back.

Howard owns—and sometimes wears—10 sets of American singer and cowboy actor Roy Rogers’ personal clothing. Howard acquired them through a personal mutual friend, who entrusted them to him after Roy’s death.

Roy Rogers, however, was also responsible for Howard’s initial interest in collecting cowboy memorabilia. Howard and Roy became friends after Roy visited the Hopalong Cassidy Museum in Cambridge, Ohio. Posing for a photograph with Roy, Howard introduced his wife to Roy as “your biggest fan from Ohio.”

“It just developed from there,” says Howard. “My wife and I had the same idol [Roy Rogers] and we didn’t even know it!”

That was 1989. Eight years later, in 1997, Howard retired and opened his shop, 10^th Street Antique Mall, which now also houses the Hopalong Cassidy Museum. Through the years, Howard has met hundreds of cowboy stars via various festivals, including the annual Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers festivals in Cambridge. Dealers, collectors and cowboy stars alike convene at the festivals to buy, sell, meet and greet. The festivals are a profitable avenue for the cowboy stars—and their descendants. Howard estimates that Roy Rogers’s granddaughter earned $2,000 through two afternoons of selling autographed photographs of her grandfather.

The most unique piece of Howard’s collection, however, is worth much more than that. A signed movie poster of Roy Rogers’s first film, Under Western Stars, is worth $16,000. Other pieces of Howard’s collection are worth as much as $25,000. Is it hard, then, for him to let go of such rare and valuable pieces of memorabilia?

No.

Howard has learned to keep pieces in his possession for a period of time before putting them up for sale. Then, once it comes time to sell them, it is no longer hard to sell them because he feels that he has already owned them. After all, he has to make a living.

Then again, as long as he’s got the clothes on his back, a gift from a dear personal friend, he’ll always be a very rich man indeed.

Amish Entrepreneur Constructs Fine Furniture

by Dylan Scott

Abie Trowler sits at his desk and surveys the work of his hands, laid before him. Rocking chairs. Bed frames. A cabinet with three mirrors and six drawers. All carved from white pine or cedar. Stacks of logs fill an airy warehouse behind the showroom.

This is Abie’s place, Hidden View Rustic Log Furniture, planted next to his parents’ Hidden View Bakery on a winding gravel road off State Route 325 near Vinton. Follow the little white signs or you will get lost.

He is lead craftsman, manager and CEO. Hands folded together, his beard draws to a little finer point when he laughs – and he often does describing his days drawing up new designs for his new business.

Abie, who is 28, and his family of seven moved down from the Pennsylvania-New York border a few years ago for the “warmer weather,” he says with a grin. His parents and seven sisters, all one big Amish family, came along.

His father, Sam, had heard talk among their people that log furniture was profitable enterprise. As Abie grew up, it seemed like a natural means for him to provide for his family. “As far as working for a living, there is nothing better,” he says. “It’s amazing to see what you draw become something in real life.”

So, in December 2008, Abie opened Hidden View. Business was slow at first, but he expected that, and the patience has been rewarded. Out of at least 30 pieces sitting in his showroom, only five are actually for sale. The rest were ordered. He has sold furniture to wholesale companies in West Virginia and Kentucky, but Abie is now finding most of his patrons in Gallia County.

They could leave with a whole new house. Abie can construct anything and everything, with his nimble hands and some help from three of his sisters.

The timber travels down from northern Michigan or even Canada, if possible. The further north the better, Abie says. Wood grown in colder climates matures at a slower pace, which tightens the grains and makes the furniture sturdier.

Then, he saws, sands and trims the logs down to the posts and planks he needs for anything from a queen-sized bed to a night stand to a porch swing. The orders depend on the season, Abie says. Customers can check out the showroom for ideas or Abie takes requests. If you’re interested in working some designs into your bed’s headstand, he sends those pieces up to “an English person” – that’s you or I – in Chillicothe with the equipment and skills for that. His parents also work a weaving machine to turn loose yarn into area rugs.

It is a family venture, and Abie clearly loves his work. He shows off the warehouse and workroom like a proud father, but takes little credit for his own talents. I guess he knows actions speak louder than words.

Waverly Couple Shapes Local Dulcimer Culture

by Jill Dickert

Gary and Toni Sager, co-owners of Prussia Valley Dulcimers: Acoustic Music Shop, indubitably have expanded the folk music culture in Waverly, Ohio. By pursuing their passion, they have surpassed being a mere music shop and instead have extended the store into part of Pike County’s local culture.

How it all began:

Sager built his first mountain dulcimer, a uniquely shaped, carved and plucked musical instrument that is a big component of the Appalachian folk music scene, in 1991 after seeing David Schnaufer's music video for "Fischer's Hornpipe" on CMT. He had always been a country and folk music enthusiast. After seeing the video, he wanted to know more about dulcimer instruments.

At the time, Gary was an electrician at the RCA/Thomson plant in Circleville, Ohio where he had been working since April of 1971. A co-worker gave Gary a book that contained instructions for making mountain dulcimers after Gary expressed his interest in the instrument. With the help of the book and determination, Gary constructed his first dulcimer. “It wasn't the best sample of my work for sure, but the instruments gradually improved,” says Gary.

Prussia Valley Dulcimers: The Early Years

Gary had been building mountain dulcimers for a few years and his interest in folk music only increased throughout the years. Gary’s wife Toni is also passionate about folk music. After seeing a woman playing an autoharp at the Fraley Mountain Music Festival in Kentucky, she became enthralled with the stringed instrument that has a series of chord bars attached to dampers which, when depressed, mute all the strings other than those that form the desired chord. The autoharp is a flat instrument that does not really resemble a harp at all.

Gary and Toni started to attend some local dulcimer festivals such as Fort New Salem Dulcimer Festival, Dulcimer Doin's in Dayton, Ohio, and Buckeye Dulcimer Festival in Ashley, Ohio. The couple quickly learned that the attendants of these festivals were also interested in dulcimer cases, picks, tuners, CDs and tablature books. Soon Gary and Toni decided to sell some of those items in addition to the dulcimer instruments that Gary made at the festivals. “After achieving success with these festivals, it just seemed logical to open a store in 2001,” says Gary.

Prussia Valley Dulcimers, nine years later:

The shop has seen a great many changes since its inception in 2001. A re-location has occurred and it has since expanded from a mere music store. Gary and Toni made the executive decision to make the store more than a dulcimer-selling entity and now sell several other acoustic instruments such as guitars, harps, fiddles, banjos and autoharps. There is a freestanding Web site to place online orders, workshops and lessons, CDs available for purchase and even a publication titled Dulcimer Players News. Gary and Toni continue to brainstorm and implement initiatives to extend the Prussia Valley Dulcimers presence in Pike County. They have recently developed a program with Bristol Village, the new senior citizen center in Waverly. Gary is going to offer free group workshops on playing the mountain dulcimer for the seniors. “It should be fun and we hope to help generate more local interest in the mountain dulcimer,” says Gary.

Consignment Shopping

by Robin Donovan

Filling your closet with clothes you’re not sick of wearing on a tight budget can be tough. And with the economy recovering almost imperceptibly, it might be a while before many of us revisit the mall.

If you have a favorite local Goodwill or thrift shop, that can work. But whipping through racks filled with stained, damaged or hole-filled clothing gets old. Especially when holes don’t make themselves known until you’re out the door with non-refundable merchandise. Consignment shops offer a different experience. Unlike thrift shops that take donated duds, consignment shops allow sellers to receive a percentage of the sale price on each garment provided.

Lucky folks near Lancaster can hit up the Dresscode instead. Located north of Meijer on business route 33 through Lancaster, the shop accepts and sells clothing for teens and adults. Like many resale outlets, the Dresscode is heavy on ladies’ wear, but it’s no thrift shop.

First clue? The $1,199 fur coat hanging in the front room. I don’t know about you, but the last time I spent a thousand bucks on clothing was, well, never! The $5.99 multi-colored scarves hanging next to the coat are more my style. But that’s the point of consignment – you can find items that you’d never see at a thrift shop. An afternoon spent browsing the racks last week revealed more designer items and certainly a consistently higher level of quality than I expect from thrift shops.

According to a cashier I spoke with, $1.99 is about the lowest price offered by the store. Women’s shirts and pants range from about $6 to $10. Prom dresses, of course, are available in abundance (I think most women have one hanging in a closet somewhere) and range from $15-$350.

Ready to clean out your closet? The Dresscode has a $5 annual account fee and sets merchandise prices. Items are allowed on the floor for four to six weeks, and may be donated after that time unless they’re valuable—they’re not going to let that fur coat go to Salvation Army! The consignor receives 50 percent of the sale price.

Careful, now—don’t bring anything that has visible wear, is out of season, or is even rumpled. Anything you’re ready to sell needs to be pressed, on a hanger (you can pick up free ones from the store), and no more than two years old. Your excellent quality items will put cash back in your pocket that you’re free to spend on (you guessed it) new clothes!

Marv's Place and Ethel's Attic

by Sarah Kyriakedes

Homemade food, cheerful service and picturesque scenery are three aspects in the realm of restaurants that are hard to come by today; however, Marv’s Place, located at the center of the quaint town of Sardis, Ohio, along the Ohio River provides those who visit with all of the above.

The restaurant’s old-fashioned structure and unique atmosphere truly takes customers on a journey back into time with its authentic wood countertops and original black and white photographs adorning the walls.

The restaurant is located in the historical 1894 commercial building that was acquired in the 1940s by Marvin and Ethel Merriner. Under the Merriner’s ownership the building served as a grocery store, poolroom, and apartment complex. Over time the building was passed down to their grandchildren and the townspeople of Sardis feared that it would get torn down and an important piece of Sardis history would be lost. Instead, the family renovated it by turning it into the family-run restaurant on the first level and a consignment and artwork shop in the upper level called Ethel’s Attic. To honor their lineage they decided to name the business after their grandparents, Marvin and Ethel.

Although the restaurant is distinct in its historical value, it has other claims to fame in both Ohio and West Virginia. All of the food served at Marv’s Place is made from scratch. The family strives to serve quality food that, as its co-owner, Sharon Davis said, “one would expect their grandma to fix.” From the infamous Marv’s burger to the homemade desserts, it is hard to go wrong when choosing an item off their menu.

“People love to come here, because we’re one of the few places left that serves food that doesn’t taste like a TV dinner,” Davis explained.

Marv’s Place attracts a varied clientele ranging from townspeople stopping by for their daily cup of soup to the out-of-town travelers stumbling in to grab a bite to eat.

After a satisfying home-cooked meal, head upstairs to browse antique goods and homemade crafts in Ethel’s Attic. A few years ago, Davis and her two brothers, Charles and Jim Merriner, decided to expand their business and open this charming little shop.

Keeping in line with authentic feel of Marv’s Place, the shop acts as both a consignment shop and an Artisan’s Mall. Customers can drop off their antique goods to be sold and they can also browse artwork made by local Southern Ohio artists.

When shopping, it truly feels like you have discovered a world full of treasures; handmade baskets hang from a wooden tree in the corner, intricate painting line the walls, beautiful glass ornaments lie in an antique trunk and colorful marbles fill several baskets. And all of this exceptional art is only half of what you can find at Ethel’s Attic.

The shop also sells antiques that townspeople have brought in- original glass Coca-Cola bottles, sewing machines, wooden furniture and china dishware, are just a few of the items that can be found.

There is also a children’s toy section to keep the little ones busy while mom and dad shop around. There are no electronic video games or board games to be found; only toys from a much simpler time are sold here.

The Merriner family is able to provide their customers with two businesses that stop you in your tracks with a cheerful atmosphere and quality of life products; both of which are not all that common in today’s society. Marv’s Place and Ethel’s Attic are truly a breath of fresh air, and worth the trip to Sardis, Ohio.

Brighter Day Restaurant & Natural Foods Market

BY Kelly Vormelker

Historic Marietta’s streets are lined with fast food pit stops. Fine dining eateries and pubs are peppered in between. One spot unique among its neighbors is Brighter Day Restaurant & Natural Foods Store. This, the region’s only natural foods market and restaurant brings granola munchers and meat lovers together in a new and unexpected way.

Located in a small brick building, a shared space with a tiny bowling alley, Brighter Day is modest from the exterior. Upon entering, the warm orange walls and dark wooden features envelope you. Aromas of herbs, sizzling meat and various spices intermingle in the air. You are quickly overwhelmed by the extensive menu featuring items like Portabello wraps, Marsala pasta, baby back ribs and hummus. “Dinner is very relaxed. We lower the lights and have white table cloths,” owner Don Murray says.

Because of the diverse menu, some patrons might be surprised to learn that the restaurant uses all natural ingredients. When available, Don uses organic ingredients too, and vegan items also grace the menu.

The first sign of Brighter Day’s bountiful portions is that after ordering a table receives a basket of warm, over-sized rolls.

To compliment your meal the drink menu boasts organic and imported beers, wines, and fresh made sidecars.

Boasting the region’s most extensive vegetarian menu, Brighter Day cooks with all natural ingredients and uses fresh herbs and spices. The kitchen even makes every meal from scratch. “We do a little bit of everything,” Don says. To find such a comparable healthy haven one would have to travel as far as Athens or Columbus.

Often, the words organic, vegetarian and vegan bring up images of tofu and bean sprouts, but Brighter Day will shatter these images. A billboard advertising the cozy restaurant displays a rack-of-ribs and mashed potatoes.

Brighter Day is striving to break the stereotypes people hold about the natural foods trend. Don is confident that every curious customer will leave having found something to his or her taste. Brighter Day allows vegetarians and carnivorous-cravers to share a table, bonded by a menu they can both embrace.

If the food fails to create the right atmosphere, allow live music to do the job. Two-to-three Fridays of every month Brighter Day employs a live band. Bulgarian guitarist Dimitar Zarev takes the corner stage the first Friday of each month. His place is taken by other acoustic acts on the alternating weekends.

Soft strumming and thoughtful lyrics fill the restaurant, while still allowing conversation among tables.

During the day, Brighter Day joins the business bustle and flips itself into a deli. Hurried workers order at the counter and take a fresh deli sandwich or salad back to the office, drawing the inquisitive eye of the fast food addict in the next cubicle.

Have a little more time to linger during the day? Wander over into the market side of Brighter Day. Spices, vitamins, soup, pancake mix, and various grocery items line the metal shelves. You can find almost anything that you set your organic mind to.

Brighter Day strives to make every visit an experience. The warm and neighborly vibe in the space lays the groundwork. As the extensive menu, unlike any other in the town, greets patrons, they realize that dinner is sure to top last nights frozen food. Live music then fills in any gaps in conversation. Leave with leftovers or groceries and return for another fresh take on natural.

Touring the Trans Allegheny

BY Caroline Melia
PHOTOS BY Andrew Spear

The Trans Allegheny Bookstore of Parkersburg, West Virginia, is well known for its historical structure and for its wide variety of used books. The building was originally built in 1905 as the Parkersburg Carnegie Public Library with a grant from Andrew Carnegie. Customers come to the store for the historical atmosphere. The photographs featured below are a glimpse of the beauty and antiquity of the century-old halls.

Exploring the Art of Basketweaving

BY Kadi McDonald

Off U.S. Route 33 in Rockbridge, a small town near Logan, I met Leota Hutchinson, a woman who has transformed her 22-years of basket weaving experience into a business: Hutchinson’s Hilltop Haven.

In Hutchinson’s Hilltop Haven, you can learn to weave a basket or buy one of Hutchinson’s hand-woven designs. Either way a trip to her shop is an authentic country experience.

The shop sits atop a hill in the small town of Rockbridge, with a picturesque view of the surroundings. Hutchinson built the shop in 1991, after she outgrew her garage workspace.

Today, tourists from her neighbor’s, Cabin and Tipi Retreat— At Boulder’s Edge – spill into her shop. Tourists come year-round to enhance their country experience.

Some will simply purchase her products while others decide to spend the afternoon weaving a basket or two.

She shares her hobby with anyone interested in learning by teaching basket-weaving classes Monday through Saturday. Anyone interested in learning more or signing up to make a basket-weaving appointment contact Hutchinson at (740)385-8130.

A few of the baskets for sale include: decorative baskets, functional baskets and tote-bag baskets. Hutchinson uses different colors and vine, called rattan, which is grown in jungles, that she purchases from a New York company.

“They do it up real nice,” she says, referring to the one-pound rolls of vine she receives.

When working with beginners, Hutchinson teaches the “beginners’ basket”, a rectangular basket with a single handle. A basket takes approximately three hours to make and costs about $13. Students have the option to add color and walnut stain, both of which she makes herself.

Hutchinson usually keeps at least two of each type of basket on hand. “If somebody buys one, I make another one because I like to have a basket to look at,” she says. “I can read patterns, but it’s easier to look at a basket.”