Star-Journbal Editor
Artists and vendors coming to the Hillsboro Arts & Crafts Fair from across the nation soon will discover something that some local merchants have known for about 36 years:
On the third Saturday in September, if you sell something truly authentic, such as smoked German sausage, or carefully handcrafted, such as Mennonite-made quilts, there's no better place to be than downtown Hillsboro, Kansas.
On the other hand, if you sell a manufactured product, such as a gallon of paint or a two-by-four, either you grin and bear it on this particular Saturday, or, you simply stay closed.
Whether Saturday brings a dollar boon or bust for their particular enterprise, downtown businesses plan to be as friendly as possible toward their potential customers — all 40,000 of them, even if it's to say "Yes, you can use the restroom."
"We'll lose a good share of our day's business, but it's good for Hillsboro," said Ken Koslowsky, co-owner of Hillsboro True Value Hardware, 125 N. Main St.
Although plans call for more than 40 portable toilets to be stationed downtown for the general public, that's little comfort for those who've really, really got to go; or for the vendors, who can't close their booths to wait in the long lines.
The motto at True Value this Saturday, as it has been for the past 20 years, will be to serve, if only to keep people from having to stand and wait.
"It's not a huge day for us by any means," said Laurie Koslowsky, who with her husband, Tom, co-owns the store with Ken, and his wife, Carla.
"We have a lot of traffic in here but it's mainly to use the restroom, which is fine. For a day, we put up with it."
For years, Tom tried to keep a couple of parking places roped off in back of the store, just in case someone, perhaps a farmer, might need to buy something. But fairgoers ignored the signs, and it became too much of a hassle to chase them away.
"We thought about closing for the day, because it would be a lot less of a headache," Laurie said.
Instead, on Friday evenings before the fair, the hardware store stays open after hours so vendors will have someplace to get that extra bolt or clamp they need to set up their booths.
The Koslowskys also decided to make fair Saturdays fun by starting a family booth of their own. For the past several years, Carla has set up in front of the store, selling her homemade noodles and cookies.
Perhaps the hardware store's most important role on Saturday will be to provide sanctuary for weary men who come in off the street seeking shelter from the sale-storm.
"The men get tired of all the arts and crafts with their wives, and they'll escape in here," Laurie said, with a smile. "They're a lot happier looking at hardware than crafts."
While the folks at True Value Hardware were preparing to take Saturday with a grain of salt, the experienced meat crew at Dale's Supermarket, Inc., 108 W. Grand Ave., was busy stockpiling two tons of the store's legendary smoked German sausage.
Storeowner Dale Franz expects hundreds of customers to make a beeline to the meat counter in the back of his store on Saturday.
"We've been gearing up for it," Franz said. "We've got it in the freezer, ready to go."
The Lumberyard, Inc., located at the corner of Grand Avenue and Ash Street, has been doing business most Saturdays in Hillsboro since 1884.
But for the past several years, it has been closed when the arts and crafts fair comes to town.
"We've had to be closed simply because of our customers haven't been able to get in," said general manager Matt Kukuk, who has never once attended the fair.
"If we do open the gates, it ends up being a parking lot, too."
Other Saturdays bring from $6,000 to $10,000 to the lumberyard, depending on the weather, he said. Kukuk acknowledged that, all in all, the fair is good for Hillsboro.
"We accept it begrudgingly," he said. "There probably is some good that comes from it, but I haven't seen it do anything beneficial for our business, even in the days and weeks leading up to it."
In contrast, business is brisk before the fair, during the fair, after the fair, and all year round because of the fair, at Quilts and Quiltracks, 130 N. Main Street, owned by Dwayne and Diane Claassen. They've stocked up with extra everything, to prepare for their busiest and most profitable day of the year.
"I'd say when you have 1,000 to 2,000 people in your shop in one day, that's more than you have the rest of the year," Diane said.
"Last year we sold four big quilts," she added. "And four big quilts is a big deal, you know, if they're $1,500 a quilt."
In addition to the high-dollar quilts, the Claassens have been stocking up on Christmas arts and crafts, including a line of wood-carved figurines of Santa, snowmen, and the Nativity, just perfect for her store.
"Every garment on every piece has a quilt pattern, isn't that beautiful?" she said. "Even the baby Jesus has a quilt over him."
Since the Claassens' shop has no room in the inn for storage, the entire inventory has been put out on display or tucked away neatly into available nooks and crannies in the store.
Making eye-catching displays while providing wide enough pathways for all the people has been a challenge, she said. In a one-hour period two years ago, more than 300 shoppers passed through the door.
Claassen says their customer focus in the past few years has been on how to provide better service for a small number of serious quilt-buyers, while at the same time finding a polite way to protect expensive items from the merely curious, and their children.
"We try to run a customer-friendly store," she said, while adding that it's always a challenge to keep children from jumping on the store's display bed, draped with quilts with $1,000 to $1,500 price tags.
Discerning arts and crafts show customers appreciate the craftsmanship that go into the quilts in her shop, she said. She encourages them to linger longer by offering "10 minute" chairs and cold water to drink.
"Handmade quilts are so very rare," Claassen said. "And we have some of the finest quilters who've made these. Our quilts are finer than most Amish quilts; competition-quality, I'd say.
"We have a great following all year long because of the fair," she added. "Because where else can you get so much exposure of what you have? It's the best opportunity in the world."
Standing together behind the counter of their well-stocked quilt shop, both Claassens were optimistic about this Saturday, and Saturdays yet to come.
"What better place to have a business than in a town like this on a day like this?" Diane said. "How could you ask for more?"
To which Dwayne said, "This is pretty nice." To which Diane added, "In fact, that's what we think about Hillsboro." To which they both nodded, and smiled.
