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Mike Vereb is from Foxburg and has a wonderful collection of used books. They were mostly non fiction and very reasonably priced. Mike and his wife Sally ran the Nickleville Store for many years. They also sell in the Fryburg Old Treasures Depot. They were the ones that suggested we start the Emporium and continue to be great mentors to us.

Mary Lynn Parson is from the Shippenville area and specializes in Americana. She had a different display for every season and it was always fun to watch her and her husband Jim set up a new display.

Eve Racaud is from the Petrolia area and paints birds and flowers on old slate and creates beautiful hand painted flowers and wreaths. Eve had the back corner of the Cafe where the coffee machine use to be.

Lois is Nancy’s sister from Murrysville and she does wonderful crochet work. Her baby blankets are an incredible value. In 2015 she also brought in some great bolts of fabric and antiques to add to her space. We never did get them all priced and displayed.

Milly Weeter is from Hillards and makes wonderful clothing. She was part of the Antique coop when Barb McElhatten rented the storefront from the Mill. I hear she may be selling at Crawford Center soon.

Darlene Fescenmyer is a talented artist and musician from Knox who with her granddaughter Allison make beautiful glass jewelry and were one our first vendors at the Emporium. She also painted the picture of the bear that hung over her display.

In June of 2014, we took the two Main Street storefronts and started the Emlenton Mill Emporium. We put Nancy’s potters wheel in the NE corner where there was lots of light and her kilns under the hood in the Cafe kitchen.

The cafe was located on the first floor at the corner of Main St and 2nd. It had a number of tenants including Sit ‘n’ Bull, Complete Burger and Little It Deli. We kept some of the former Cafe signs in Texas. It was very difficult to take a cafe through the winter in Emlenton. In 2014, we converted the cafe space to a craft shop and the kitchen became a kiln room.

In the NW corner of the Banquet room were two locked doors that led to the upstairs pantry. This is where we kept the restaurant supplies and equipment when the cafe was not in use and where food was kept when the cafe was in use. In 2006 Dan and I cut a new door opposite the 2nd floor bathrooms to access the pantry. This made it so food deliveries didn’t have to cross the Banquet room carpet to get to the pantry. There was another storage room connected to the upstairs pantry that also opened onto the second floor through a door half way up the wall.

I have very few pictures of the banquet room- at least I couldn’t find any when I looked today. Perhaps this is because it is what we didn’t want the Mill to look like. The banquet room is located just off the second floor two steps up. It has a hung ceiling and chandeliers and painted drywall walls. It was designed as an expansion area for the Cafe below it on the first floor. During that period it was fitted out with tables and chairs. When this picture was taken Debs was practicing for FAWMstock and we were sorting cafe china, etc.