Quarantine ignites sales at Horseshoe Mountain Pottery

BY CHRISTI BABBITT

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of events that usually attracted people to his Spring City gallery, potter Joe Bennion was concerned his sales would plummet like they did during the recession of the late 2000s.

“What I didn’t see coming was #quarantinesour dough,” Bennion said.

Bennion, owner of Horseshoe Mountain Pottery, spe cializes in what he calls “utilitarian pottery,” or pottery made to be used. “I make pottery for the home, which generally means food,” he said. “A vase is as close as I get to making something that’s made to be looked at and not used.”

Bennion makes cups, bowls, plates and other kitchen items — including his bread baker, a bowl with a lid used for baking artisan loaves.

In mid-March, when the virus quarantine began, Bennion started noticing pictures on social media of bread being created with his bread baker. Recognizing a potential demand, Bennion made a couple of dozen bread bakers, then posted on Facebook a date and time when they’d be ready for purchase at his gallery. Within 3 days, they were all sold. He made more, and they sold.

The bread bakers are leading his sales, but other pot tery items are being purchased as well. “I’m seeing two to three times the volume of business that I’m used to this time of year,” Bennion said.

The success of this simple marketing on social media illustrates the different approaches Bennion has utilized over the years in his longtime pottery business. He and his wife, Lee Udall Bennion, purchased their first home in Spring City three weeks after their marriage in 1977. They had discovered the town while on their honey moon; it looked like the town they both wished they had grown up in.

Bennion had been studying to be a school teacher, but by the time they moved to Spring City, his wife had convinced him to pursue pottery as his vocation.

“She recognized that education was getting me really uptight and rubbing me the wrong way, and she said, ‘I don’t want to spend my life with somebody who’s frus trated and unhappy,’” Bennion said.

Bennion changed his major and went on to earn a master of fine arts degree. Meanwhile, he made pottery in a chicken coop behind his home until the couple sold their house and purchased another in town as well as an old store front on Main Street that had been empty for decades. “I knew by then that I needed a Main Street

Spring City Potter Joe Bennion, Horseshoe Mountain Pottery, has seen his business explode since the Coronavirus hit in March. People are staying home and baking lots of bread. He makes a bread baker that has a lid used to make artisan loaves. Bennion specializes in “utilitarian pottery”, which is made to be used. His storefront can be found at 278 South Main, Spring City. (Photo courtesy of Nick Bayless)

location. I needed drive-by traffic,” Bennion said.

The store was converted into Bennion’s gallery and studio, and he continues to operate his business there today.

Early in his career, Bennion had his works in galleries all around the country and traveled internationally to speak at symposiums, conferences and workshops. These activities are important in the art world, he said, but are really designed for people who work at teaching institu tions.

By the mid-1990s, he realized he didn’t want to be on the road — he wanted to be home, making and selling pottery. He began holding four shows a year at his gallery and people would stop by and purchase his pottery. Then he started printing a newsletter he gave to customers and sent out to a mailing list he’d compiled. Within the first year of doing the newsletter, his business quadrupled.

The newsletter continued for 25 years until, in 2017, the cost and time involved became prohibitive. Bennion now occasionally sends out an email newsletter.

Social media, however, has brought new possibilities, and the success of his bread baker sales has him consider ing another change in his marketing strategy, perhaps to monthly kiln openings announced on social media instead of large quarterly sales.

Regardless of what attracted the customers, however, Laser Auto Body & Towing

Joe Bennion, Horseshoe Mountain Pottery, Spring City, shows off some of his handmade pottery at his store. Demand for his wares has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic since he specializes in pottery that is not only pretty to look at but also can be used to prepare food. (Photo courtesy of Richard Gate)

those making the effort to visit Spring City will always get the best deal. Bennion marks his pieces with the retail price but sells the pieces to in-store customers at whole sale, which is 50 percent off the marked price.

Horseshoe Mountain Pottery is located at 278 S. Main in Spring City and can be found online at www. horseshoemountainpottery.com.

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