The On The Go Event Was A Hit!

As a follow-up to my May 6, 2024 blog about the On The Go Event, I want to spend a little time telling you all about the event and how it went. In a nutshell, the event was a huge success and a hit for all who attended. The entire event was sponsored by the Jaftex Companies so attendees didn’t have to pay a cent. All they had to do was show up and be ready to learn. Below, I will provide a high level overview of the event.

It all started in Austin, Minnesota on Monday, June 10. By the way, did you know that Austin, MN is the home to the Hormel Food Corporation? Needless to say, there was a lot of Spam on the menus of the local restaurants. Spam is not my jam, what about you? I digress. Wednesday, June 12, we were in Independence, MO. Friday, June 14, we were in Paducah, KY.

I did rent a car Sunday night June 9 when I arrived in Minnesota. I spent most of the time in the car traveling with Nancy Jewell, the managing director of FreeSpirit Fabrics, as we travelled from one location to the next. There were a few highlights from our drive across several states as noted below.

• We stopped by Leanne Anderson’s home and work space in Nashua, Iowa. She hosted a lovely breakfast which was very kind of her. It was great to be able to check out her operation. We were fortunate also to see Leanne’s daughter Kaytlyn who works with Leanne. The biggest treat of all was that we got to meet Kaytlyn’s adorable baby daughter. Uncle Scott still has the magic touch with the little ones….NOT! But seriously, I found out the baby had an ear infection and that explains the overwhelming excitement to see me….I mean get away from me. She seems a lot better in the photo below…that white part of my beard is mesmerizing.

• We visited a few quilt shops throughout our travels, but I don’t want to get sidetracked talking about them here as I want to stay on subject. That’s for another blog on another day. The shops were: Hen & Chicks Studio In Conrad, IA. Pieceworks Quilt Shop in Winterset, IA. Appletree Quilting Center in Columbia, MO.

Each day during the events, Heidi and Andrea from Creative Retailer had a packed schedule and they made sure everything ran smoothly….and it sure did. Food and drinks were served at all the locations and it was great that the food was edible. Actually, it was quite good for an event like this. That’s always a plus! Creative Retailer had the same 4 presenters at all three locations. That included:

• Karman Hotchkiss of Level Up with Karman. She discussed everything and anything related to marketing, branding, best practices and so much more. She was full of great ideas. She was funny too.
• Tracy Walker of TW Creative Design. She discussed lots about social media and it’s importance especially video and Instagram. After she spoke, I spoke to the attendees about the Jaftex Facebook Live Video Challenge which is in its 7th year and will be starting in August. More details on that for future blogs coming soon.
• Heidi Kaisand, publisher of the Creative Retailer and owner of Hen & Chicks Studio. She provided 10 lessons from her experience being a shop owner and publisher. The 10 points were very relevant and certainly hit on many important topics for retailers. As mentioned above, I did visit her shop and it was adorable…especially the retreat center upstairs.
• Jacob Curtis of Curtis Accounting Solutions. He discussed putting a financial plan in place which many a retailer admittedly needs.

In addition to the professional speakers that Creative Retailer brought, team Jaftex was fortunate to have some of it’s own licensed designers in the house.

• As mentioned above, we had Leanne Anderson of the Whole Country Caboodle. She has been a licensed designer for Henry Glass for 17 years. She spoke about her business, designing, business ideas and how she could help retailers in her discussions. She spoke at all 3 locations. One day, we were fortunate to have her partner/daughter Kaytlyn in attedance too. They are a great team. Their fabric lines, basics and appliques are all fabulous. I look forward to working with this team for many years to come.
• Speaking of teams, day 1 in Austin, MN, we were fortunate to have the mother/daughter duo of Stacy West from Buttermilk Basin and Hannah West of Lucky Day Designs. They are both licensed designers for Henry Glass Fabrics. Their talk revolved around their new collections, their basic collections and tons of great ideas for displays. I visited The Buttermilk Basin Quilt Shop a few years ago and I couldn’t get over how great the displays were. They are inspiring to say the least.
• Helen and Jenny from Sew Kind of Wonderful (FreeSpirit licensors) spoke at the Paducah, KY location. They talked about their tools and techniques and newest fabric lines. They had so much inspiring product, but not only that, they offered a very special treat. On Thursday evening, they offered a special certification to anyone that signed up. About 15 attendees came in the night before for the certification and they were sure glad they did. I was there too and I learned a lot about their cutting tools.

• Nancy Jewell and I had a chance to talk at all locations. We picked a few of our new July collections to display at the show. Retailers appreciated being able to get a sneak peak and also appreciated the promos and the giveaways we offered.

Aside from the giveaway bags given to each attendee filled with goodies, we picked a random winner at each location to win a total of 10 free bolts of Jaftex 44″ fabric. Congrats to all the winners!

There is so much more to write about in this blog, but long blogs are not the answer. With that folks, that is the high level overview of the first ever On The Go Event with the Jaftex Companies and Creative Retailer. Will there be a second one? Stay tuned…….