Laura Dean Bennett
Staff Writer
As anyone who knows the community can tell you, Hillsboro is a hub of creativity and 37 Hill Street is at the heart of a lot of it.
Melissa’s Knit and Hobby Shop is moving – but Melissa’s customers won’t have far to go.
A few steps across the parking lot will take them to her new location – in the adjacent building in the former home of Jeanie’s Stylin’ Salon.
So, now there’s going to be a space available for a new idea and projects.
For some time now, Melissa’s shop has been a regular meeting place for those learning to pursue the joys of sewing, quilting and homemade crafts.
Burton’s Enterprise owner Jim Burton and Deb Ann’s Fabric owner Debbie Walker are busy reorganizing the newly available space into a more classroom-like setting.
“It looks like we’ll have work tables and space enough for about 12 students, which, with one teacher, is about all you’d really want in a class, anyway,” quilting and sewing teacher Walker said.
She and Burton are looking forward to having people in the community hold classes there.
“We haven’t come up with a name for the place, yet,” Burton said.
”But hopefully, it’ll be something that let’s people know that it’s a place for anything artsy-craftsy.”
Artsy-craftsy covers a lot of territory.
“We’d like to open it up for people who want to offer all kinds of creative arts classes,” Walker agreed.
“It will be a place that doesn’t cost too much, so we hope people will be able to take advantage of it.”
There’s plenty of room to spread out and sew, make baskets, paint or tackle any number of creative pursuits in a comfortable, laid-back atmosphere.
“We’ll probably start with sewing classes that I’ll be teaching,” Walker said.
Burton described the room for those who haven’t been there.
“It’s a room that’s about fourteen feet wide and thirty-two feet long,” he said. “We’ll charge $25 per class to rent the space.”
“But if someone wants to use the space several times a week or on an ongoing basis, I’m sure we can negotiate a fair price for that, too.
“The space will probably be ready in mid-September, so that’s when we’ll start renting it out for classes.
Eventually, after they establish a schedule of classes, Burton and Walker plan to have a monthly calendar of classes which will be published in The Pocahontas Times.
“Once we get going, we’ll have the monthly calendar of classes posted on our webpage and our Facebook page, too,” Walker said.
“So, we’ll be doing the basic advertising for the place to let people know what classes we’re having, but if someone wants to do some more advertising for their own classes, that’s fine.”
“We think this is something that people around here can use, and we sure hope the community gets behind it,” Burton added.
For information about renting the space at 37 Hill Street, contact Jim Burton or Debbie Walker at 304-653-4150, Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.