Future Fashion Designers Academy - Mooresville, NC

123 N. Main Street, Mooresville, NC 28115

http://www.futurefashiondesigners.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FutureFashionDesigners

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

Located approximately 25 miles north of Charlotte, Mooresville, North Carolina is the home of several NASCAR drivers and racing teams. In fact, it is nicknamed "Race City USA." It isn’t the first place that would come to mind when thinking fashion design. Yet, here, on a historic stretch of Main Street, is the starting block for many future designers, taught by a true Hollywood fashion designer.

Owner Shawnelle Cherry graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles and from the UCLA extension program where she studied costume design for film.  She worked in the Los Angeles garment industry before starting her own design studio in Pacific Palisades, California. There, she specialized in evening gowns for the Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes and the Daytime Emmy Awards. In 1995, five of her gowns were worn at the Oscars. During her 20 years in Hollywood, Cherry also had a list of more than 30 films to her credit. 

When she got engaged, she moved to Mooresville and decided to start her own business. The idea came about as her father was going through treatments for lung cancer. She read the book, "One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life" by Kerry Shook.  Cherry asked herself what she really wanted to do. "I discovered what would really feed my soul was to share my talents and teach kids (of all ages) my passion for the art.”

While the engagement didn’t last, the business did. She stayed in Mooresville, opened her doors in January 2010 and offered classes in sewing and design. Students do everything in the process from sketching to draping and sewing. They also show off their work on the runway.

Cherry’s busiest time is summer, when she has camps from June through August. Students as young as 8-years-old sign up for half-day and full-day beginner and intermediate classes. Last summer, almost all the slots were quickly filled.

While there are some other businesses like this in New York and San Francisco, this is the only designer academy in the area. Students come from as far away as South Carolina. Many of the kids Cherry mentors end up continuing with their talents and study fashion design at North Carolina State or Savannah College of Art and Design.

Cherry is passionate about her desire to share her skills and lifetime of experience with kids of all ages and skill levels. To expand her reach, in addition to her in-house classes, she has started Project Sew*Way, an online subscription program where kids can get projects mailed to them on a monthly basis.

“Many kids know how to sew,” Cherry says, “but if they go and pick their own projects, sometimes they are too hard and when they are too hard, they sometimes just quit.” That’s what Cherry says happened during her childhood. She just doesn’t want kids to stop when they have the interest. “We send them the fabric, thread, stuffing, everything they need to do the project.”

The hope is that these easy-to-do projects will not only spark imagination, but also build confidence by seeing ideas take form. Kids are able to build their self-esteem and confidence because they are able to complete the projects.  Even though the kits can be sent anywhere in the world, Cherry keeps connected via an online community.

Now more than six years out of the frantic pace of Hollywood, Cherry notes how much she really likes downtown's revitalized Main Street and Mooresville (which is growing so quickly it now has a second zip code). She adds that there are some perks to having the 123 N. Main Street address. “I get some of the funniest mail,” she says, noting that hers is often used as a test address. One time, she got a package with so many cookies that she couldn’t give them all away.

South Shore Arts - Crown Point, IN

123 N. Main Street, Crown Point, IN 46307

http://www.southshoreartsonline.org

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

Approximately 45 miles southeast of Chicago and the Lake Michigan shoreline is Crown Point, Indiana. Located a half block from the historic county courthouse where silent film star Rudolph Valentino married Winifred DeWolfe and three blocks from the county jail where John Dillinger famously made his escape is a branch of the South Shore Arts at 123 N. Main Street.

This not-for-profit organization was formed in 1936 as the Hammond District Art Association by 10 artists who had “the avowed purpose to stimulate interest and appreciation of art in our region." What began as a showing of works in the hat department of Minas Department Store in Hammond, Indiana (30 miles to the northeast of Crown Point) turned into an annual Salon Show of painters and sculptors; today $10,000 in prize money is awarded to local artists. It is one of the largest juried shows in the Midwest.

The mission of South Shore Arts is to “transform the South Shore through the arts,” notes Tricia Hernandez, Director of Marketing and Development. The organization makes the arts accessible to the community by providing exhibitions for local artists, youth outreach programs and classes for all ages. Throughout the year, South Shore Arts provides more than 400 classes in visual arts media, including ceramics, photography, painting, drawing and cartooning. And, in a time when the art programs are the first thing to be cut at many schools, they partner with schools and serve approximately 28,000 children each year.

Public exhibitions have included Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell and Ansel Adams.  In addition to the annual Salon Show, South Shore Arts provides other opportunities for artists to show their work and awards more than $200,000 in grants with funds provided by the Indiana Arts Commission to nonprofit arts providers in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties in Indiana.

With their main location in Munster, Indiana (approximately 24 miles northwest) South Shore Arts established a branch in Crown Point in 1998, but moved into this gut-rehabbed space on Main Street in 2011. Hernandez says it’s a great space with large glass windows where people walking by can see the activity of classes in session or exhibits being hung. “[The windows] cause an interest in the arts, which is our goal.”

In the more than 70 years they have been in the area, many artists “have been able to make art their livelihood and succeed,” says Hernandez. She is also quick to point out the impact of classes on many area children. According to the website, some classes are available from birth. Hernandez says some people bring infants as young as a couple weeks old into the "Music Together" class. "Mommy & Me" classes encourage toddler participation. Other classes are enriched with an educational component where children learn about diversity, littering or drug prevention through art. Adult and senior classes teach drawing, watercolor painting, sewing, pottery, photography and more.

South Shore Arts is also the largest national retailer of South Shore Posters. Between 1925 and 1929, the Indiana commuter train known as The South Shore Line, became very successful. Passengers could ride from Chicago all the way to South Bend, Indiana. In an effort to boost ridership, the train began an advertising campaign highlighting area stops of interest such as the Indiana Dunes and Notre Dame Football. The poster art became well-known and won medals in several Art Directors Club annual competitions. Print magazine compares them to the graphic posters of the London Underground and notes that “there are eight examples [of the South Shore posters] in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.”

Weeks Funeral Home - Warsaw, NY

123 N. Main Street, Warsaw, NY 14569

www.weeksfuneral.com

Founded in 1919 by Harry Weeks, this funeral home, like so many funeral homes in the United States, was bought by a larger corporation. Then in October 2007, Brian Kaczmarek, former manager of that large firm, bought the funeral home and kept the original Weeks name. Funeral home corporations, Kaczmarek points out, “treat you like a number; it’s about the bottom line.” He didn’t like that people weren’t treated like human beings and wanted to bring back the personal touch and dignity to the business.

Located approximately 37 miles southeast of Buffalo and approximately 37 miles southwest of Rochester, Warsaw, New York is in Wyoming County. The area is changing; it was once a large industrial county with lumber, flour, cast iron and salt manufacturers, including the Worchester Salt plant. Worchester Salt later became the nucleus of the well-known Morton Salt Company.

Kaczmarek says there was a time when you could walk from the center of town to 30 different factories for work. These days, the poor economy and the high taxes have made creating and growing a business difficult. Many businesses left town. Many residents departed as well.

With nearly 100 years in business, Weeks remains steady. Sometimes the funeral home has to get creative because “people are spending less on funerals.” While Kaczmarek says people can “go anywhere to get a cremation done,” he focuses on “putting the family first.”

By giving attention to the requests of a family, at times he does things that may seem unusual. “I’ve had tents, kayaks and snowmobiles in the funeral home,” he says. He also set up a four-wheel monster mud truck on the front lawn as a memorial to a young motorcycle crash victim. “We try not to say ‘no’,” he conveys, “we’re not just about a cute picture at the side of the casket.”

When a family requested their mother be taken to the cemetery in a 150-year-old horse-drawn hearse, Kaczmarek made it happen.

Always on the clock and at the request of the community 24/7, Kaczmarek has been on the highway at auto accidents or in the home of a resident in the middle of the night. But he says, “When you really love what you do and your find your niche, you’re not just having to go to work.”

Sawmill Saloon - Darby, MT

123 N. Main Street, Darby, MT 59829

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Sawmill-Saloon/199941790177450?rf=101942163245912

Located near the southwestern border of Montana and Idaho, along the Continental Divide, sits Darby, Montana.

The location is a quaint and picturesque western setting with a quiet Main Street. The official website for Darby claims the area has some of “the best recreational landscape of the whole country.”

With a population of a little more than 700 people, those who come into the Sawmill Saloon are typically known by name by owner Gary Steinman. A native of Drums, Pennsylvania, Steinman ended up in Montana when he took a job as a forester. He was still working in the business when, in 1992, he bought the saloon. Today, it’s his full-time business.

Originally built in 1914 as a bank (with a hotel above), the building has been a saloon since prohibition ended in 1933.

“People float in and out,” Steinman states, but the establishment has its group of regulars. Pizzas and fish and chips are a big draw along with the offerings of a full bar. There’s also the sharing of fishing stories. Friends post photos of their big catches on the saloon’s Facebook page.

With at least five fish and wildlife park sites within 10 miles of the city, it’s definitely an understatement when Steinman says, “hunting and fishing are big here.” He sees an influx of tourists during the summer and then again in the winter when the snow is good and skiing is the attraction.

The attraction inside the saloon is cribbage and billiards. Steinman’s daughter, Morgan, got her start playing pool here. According to InsidePool Magazine, she began by standing on milk crates around the table. The winner of numerous championships, today she is part of the Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA).

Bookends Bookstore - Hutchinson, KS

123 N. Main Street, Hutchinson, KS 67501

http://www.bookendshutch.com

Gwen and Wes Bartlett grew up in Hutchinson, Kansas, went off to college and pursued jobs in various small towns throughout the state. Wes was a high school English teacher and coach, and Gwen was an elementary school librarian. When they retired in 2011, they came back to their hometown and decided to open a bookstore.

Hutchinson didn’t have a used bookstore and, after the couple had attended a workshop in Colorado, they learned about antique books. Today, that’s their business’ specialty. (You can find new books in the bookstore across town).

At Bookends, customers can buy, sell or trade both hardback and paperback, antique books (late 1800s and early 1900s) and collectible books. The store carries many history and children’s books. The oldest book they had in the store was a 1768 book about the history of a church in Spain. It was written in Latin on parchment paper. It has since been sold.

Currently amongst their 20,000 volumes is a first edition of Jurassic Park, autographed by the author, the late Michael Crichton. Gwen’s research indicates the value of the book to be about $800. It’s priced at $600 in the store.

A statue of Humpty Dumpty is located at the entrance of the store.
Photo courtesy of Gwen Bartlett.

“I think it’s important to stay busy after you retire,” Gwen said about the business venture they began in 2012. The Bartletts have taken what was once a hotel built in the 19th century and transformed the street-level restaurant into the bookstore. The 20 rooms above their store are also in the process of being remodeled. They will become four apartments; the Bartletts will keep one for themselves and rent the other three.

An interesting fact they discovered about the building was that the width of the property – and many other properties on Main Street – is 25 feet. When building began along Main Street in the 1800s, businesses were taxed every 25 feet. Thus, many buildings are only a narrow 25 feet wide and then reach far back and up. Their property extends 50 feet back.

The bookstore’s mascot can be seen roaming the entire space. Mordred is a black cat that was adopted by the Bartletts from the Central Kansas Veterinary Center in South Hutchinson. His name comes from the story of King Arthur; Mordred, it is told, was a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann. The bookstore’s Mordred is not a villain, but “a sweet, gentle cat who loves to be petted.” Gwen says many customers stop in simply to see him.