News & Events
Mid-America
News
Show
Calendar
State Event Calendars
Regular Features
The
Antique Detective
Antique
Detective Q&A
Common Sense Antiques
Refurnished
Thoughts
Traveling with Ken
Good Eye
Books
for Collectors
Directories
& Classifieds
The
Finder: Unique Shops
Lodgings Directory
Museum Directory
Aviation Museums
Wineries in the Heartland
Classifieds
Web
Links
Archived Features
Antiquing
in Colorado
Dealer Profile Archive
Editor's
Notebook
Heirloom
Recipes
Helpful Hints
for Collectors
Is This An Antique?
Past
Cover Features
Reflecting
History
Missouri News
‘Peaceful’ retreat
After the last of seven children left home, Bill and Becca Hodges of Jamesport tried to downsize. It just wasn’t meant to be. “I guess the good Lord didn’t want us to,” said Becca. Plus, the couple had inherited a huge bedroom set, so what to do with that?
Well that, along with some remodeling, decorating and two new bathrooms went into creating the Peaceful Hearts Retreat. The five-bedroom bed and breakfast is a dream-come-true for the Hodges, especially Becca.
 |
| Peaceful Hearts Retreat in Jamesport |
“I started coming up to Jamesport with friends in the 1980s,” said Becca, who was born in Oregon and grew up in California. The town took hold of Becca, which led her to begin a wedding business. Becca operated her full service business, Unique Weddings, from 1991-2004 yet didn’t give up on her ambition to open a B&B.
This past September Peaceful Hearts Retreat came into being. Becca does the PR and makes sure visitors to the B&B are well taken care of. “I love working with people,” said Becca. “I’m the HR/PR person; Bill does the cooking,”
Breakfast by Bill is part of the package whether one is staying in the Sea Breeze ($79 per night), Tranquility ($79), Serenity ($89), Majestic ($89) or using the bunk-bed furnished Happy Trails, $21 with either the Serenity or Majestic. The room names reflect the relaxing, getaway feel of Peaceful Hearts.
“We want people to come here and feel like they’re away from the hustle and bustle,” Becca said, “a way to get people out of the stresses of life and relax themselves.”
Part of that approach means no television, a deliberate decision. “With no TV, people sit and talk, visit or just read,” Becca said. The B&B has a fireplace for winter conversations and a deck, patio and gazebo for warmer weather socializing.
Peaceful Hearts Retreat offers a mid-week, extended stay special of 10% off, which, say Bill and Becca, is suited for antiquers prowling Jamesport’s many shops or for hunters and fishermen visiting the area. Also, in February, Peaceful Hearts will offer a “sweethearts weekend” for Valentine’s Day with gift certificates, candlelight settings, rose pedals on the beds and mints on the pillows, said Becca.
For more information or reservations, call 660-684-6550 or email info@peacefulheartsretreat.com.
Toy show
The holiday gift-giving season may be coming to a close, but antique toys and collectibles are a year around pursuit for some. Those antiquers will be getting an early year start at the 25th Annual Pony Express Toy Show in St. Joseph on Jan. 17 at the Stoney Creek Inn.
For a $4 admission, with children under 8 free with an adult, find farm and construction toys, trucks, cars, tin toys, HotWheels, NASCAR, diecast, trains, MatchBox and more.
Early bird is 7 am, regular hours 9 am to 3 pm. For more information, call 816-667-5497 or email mrice@agristar.net.
AP photo exhibit
 |
| United States troops marching up the Champs Elysees is just one of the photos at a special exhibit, “Memories of World War II: Photographs from the Archives of The Associated Press,” at The Harry S Truman Library and Museum in Independence through Jan. 11. Call 816-268-8200, 800-833-1225 or visit www.trumanlibrary.org for more information. |
Bigger better Brown’s
“No buckets,” seems to be the standard reply of Mark Ufferman and dealers/co-managers Jan Ryan and Linda Williams when asked about what’s different about the new location. That remark refers to the strategy used at Brown’s Emporium back in the day when the antique mall was located on East 47th Street in Kansas City. Now the sky can open up without bringing concern to the three, the rest of the dealers or customers.
 |
| Owner Mark Ufferman out front of Brown’s Emporium Antique Mall at its new location, 13720 E. 40 Highway in the Noland Fashion Square Shopping Center. (photos by Bruce Rodgers) |
Brown’s Emporium Antique Mall has made a huge leap in comfort, style, space and attractiveness when owner Ufferman moved the mall into its new digs at the Noland Fashion Square Shopping Center, US 40 Hwy and Noland Road, in Independence. The Grand Opening/Open House was held last month bringing in a big crowd.
“It’s exciting, a tremendous opportunity for the antique business to grow and our business to grow with it,” said Ufferman.
He wouldn’t put a number to the money spent on renovation to the former TJ Max space, but it appears to be a complete makeover of the more than 18,000 square feet now containing the new Brown’s Emporium Antique Mall. Dealer spaces have been laid out neatly with low partitions that can be adjusted depending upon the size wanted. The standard size is 6 by 12 but Ufferman said the mall will accommodate “up to any size they (a dealer) want.”
A nice touch is the front display windows. Dealer Valerie Bloomfield created December’s holiday scene.
 |
| Brown’s Emporium Antique Mall dealers Linda Williams (l) and Jan Ryan with owner Mark Ufferman. |
With the new and improved mall, Ufferman said the challenge is finding additional dealers with quality antiques to match his commitment into the new location. Ufferman has owned Brown’s for over five years and said his first goal after completing the move is to double the number of dealers. Currently, Brown’s has 65 dealers with room for another 40 or so.
“This will step up our merchandise, we’ll sell more antiques and have more of a variety in dealers,” said Williams. “The old mall was like an old neighborhood mall. This is a Midwest mall.”
Ryan agrees, commenting that at the old location, people “just didn’t see us.”
There’s a definite excitement buzzing through the new Brown’s. “I like everything,” said Marilyn Fair, a dealer since 1996. “It’s so bright, the color, the space — cheerful. Everybody who has come in just walk in with a big smile on their face.” And when it rains, there’s no need to dodge buckets.
Brown’s Emporium Antique Mall is open Sun.-Thurs., 10 am-6 pm, Fri.-Sat., 10 am-7 pm. For more information, call 816-478-7052.
Accolades for Bratcher’s
Historic Downtown Liberty, Inc. has recognized Bratcher Cooperage, a craft and gift shop just off the square in Liberty, by winning the “Most Whimsical Store Front” award in the organization’s 2008 Holiday Window competition.
Owners Jan and Doug Bratcher have long worked to increase recognition
for the businesses in Liberty’s Historic Square. Jan is also an
advertising representative for Discover Mid-America and Doug
is known nationally for his craftsmanship in making wooden barrels, buckets
and kegs at the shop.
For more information, call 816-781-3988.
Second year for Summit show
Promoter, dealer and shop owner Sandee Millett remains jazzed for the growing success of her Old Summit Country Antique Show, held twice a year at the John Knox Pavilion in Lee’s Summit. Millett took over the former Pioneer Spirit Country Antique Show last year. She said that what motivated her to take on show promoter duties was the interest from dealers to keep the show going at same location and during the same time frame (January and September). The show’s emphasis is on country antiques and quality.
“It’s a juried show,” said Millett. “The dealers are invited and I review their merchandise.”
Millett oversight, she believes, along with some changes has taken the show to a different level. “We have great quality that’s affordable.” She adds that the customers have commented positively on the addition of music and changing the food menu. But Millett emphasizes that what the dealers think is important, also.
“Anytime the dealers are happy, they are going to replay that back to the customers,” she said.
Even though organizing and promoting an antique show is a little different format than Millett is use to, she remains bullish on antique shows.
“I still see the strong collector willing to add to their collection,” she said.
The Old Summit Country Antique Show is Saturday, Jan. 17, 9 am to 4 pm. Admission is $5. For more information, call 816-537-7129.
Rare folk art piece a Swedish Christmas tradition
Mark Esping of Kansas City, with family roots in Lindsborg, KS — a town with a Scandinavian heritage — is keeping the Ljuskrona tradition alive.
The beginnings of Ljuskrona (pronounced Use-cron-a) go back to Sweden of the 1700s, said Esping. The folk art object, a candleholder, usually sits in the middle of a serving table as a Christmas decoration. The appearance of the Ljuskronor announces the preparations for Christmas can now begin in earnest. Swedes celebrate the holiday for one month beginning Dec. 13, St. Lucia’s Day, through Jan. 13. St. Lucia visits each household early on that December morning with coffee and cookies, wearing on her head a crown with lighted candles.
 |
| An Ljuskrona table setting (photo courtesy Mark Esping) |
Swedish immigrants settling in the Great Plains brought the Ljuskrona tradition with them though the actual objects are rare. In an article for The Clarion, a folk art publication, Esping noted that only a few hundred of the objects have been documented, with most of them made in America by Swedish immigrants and very few brought over from Sweden. Most of the existing Ljuskronor displays appear in churches, either Baptist, Lutheran or Methodist denominations with a Swedish congregation, said Esping. It’s they’re in a church, he added, most people likely get their “only chance” to see an Ljuskrona.
The beauty of the folk art piece lies in the creativity it displays. Made of cut fringed paper, sometimes of various colors, hours can be spent in its construction. Styles vary, depending upon where the immigrants came from in Sweden.
“They were reminders that the hard life of those starting with nothing in the wilds of America would eventually return to a life better than the one most people left in the old country,” said Esping.
“This Christmas object, made of scrap wood and paper, had the ability to make the desolation of frontier living disappear for a few hours on those first few Christmases when even the Christmas Eve meal was rather meager.”
Until the awarding in 1989 of a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, documentation of Ljuskrona in the United States wasn’t done. Yet the folk art objects have survived, Esping noted in The Clarion, “despite social pressures on the owners to become American and reject foreign origins.”
Esping said that Ljuskrona occasionally appear at auctions or in antique shops in Scandinavian communities where its cost depends upon size and condition. He is interested in knowing of such finds or of families that are keeping the tradition alive. If you know of such families or where Ljuskrona is found, please contact Esping at 3828 Baltimore, Kansas City, MO 64111 or email kcmo@kcnet.com.
©2000-08 Discovery Publications, Inc.