10TH OVERALL
HOME & GARDEN
The Creston boys track team improved in several events at the Husky Invitational in Winterset Friday, placing 10th overall. More in SPORTS, page 4A.
The Southern Prairie YMCA held its biennial home and garden show Saturday. There were nearly 50 vendors at the show. See photo on page 2A.
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MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016
Dollar Tree on schedule to open by July By KYLE WILSON
CNA managing editor kwilson@crestonnews.com
A new, 8,000-square-foot Dollar Tree store being constructed just north of WalMart in Creston is about 70 percent complete and still on schedule to open by July. Rick Johnson, one of two Wisconsin developers bringing this store to Creston, said Friday that construction is slightly ahead of schedule. He and his general contractor expect to turn the building over to Dollar Tree executives by May 1. “Dollar Tree will then put up signage, fixtures and begin bringing in inventory,” Johnson said. “Their process of getting the store ready usually takes about
one month. So, you can plan on the store opening in mid-June at this point.” Johnson and his partner, Pat Flynn, specialize in smaller developments in small and medium size communities. In Iowa, they have previously developed property in Carroll, Le Mars and Spencer. Creston Dollar Tree is expected to produce 12 to 15 jobs and have a property tax assessment of $817,000. Projected sales are $1 million annually. Dollar Tree offers a broad mix of merchandise from national and regional brands. Products you might find at Dollar Tree include houseware, cleaning supplies, snacks, toys, books, seasonal decor and more. And, remember everything at Dollar Tree is $1 or less.
New ownership
CNA photo by KYLE WILSON
A new Dollar Tree store being constructed just north of Wal-Mart at 801 Laurel St. in Creston is about 70 percent complete and on schedule to open by July.
Sarah Brown of Creston purchases Quilts & Other Notions from longtime owner Joyce Franklin. Brown reopened the store Friday. The store is now online, too, at www.quiltsandnotions.com.
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By KELSEY HAUGEN CNA staff reporter khaugen@crestonnews.com
When Joyce Franklin opened Quilts & Other Notions in 1982, she got started with $5,000, and there were 11 other places to buy fabric in Creston. Now, Franklin has retired as owner of Quilts & Other Notions, and Creston resident Sarah Brown has taken over. Franklin She purchased the store and reopened it as the new owner on Friday. “We’re not changing a whole lot other than the look and freshening it Brown up,” Brown said. “And, there’s all the same faces and people that our customers are comfortable with.” Quilts & Other Notions, located at 209 W. Montgomery St., was originally called Knits & Other Notions when Franklin first opened it on Walnut Street in 1982. Franklin opened the store in its current location in 1984. “I opened my store with $5,000 –
CNA photo by KELSEY HAUGEN
A quilt hangs next to a variety of fabrics at Quilts & Other Notions in Creston. Sarah Brown of Creston reopened the store as the new owner on Friday.
don’t you wish that would happen today?” Franklin said. “I drove to Minneapolis and filled my brown station wagon with as much fabric as I could afford, which was about $5,000 worth, and opened my store.” In 2009, Franklin bought the Quilts & Other Notions Creative Center at 201 N. Elm St.
Now, Franklin has handed over Quilts & Other Notions to Brown, but she will continue to own Piece Works Quilt Shop in Winterset, which is managed by Tony Jacobson. Franklin will also continue teaching classes – everything from beginning quilting to advanced and art quilting – and hosting retreats and classes at the creative center,
which she still owns. “It feels really good handing it off to Sarah because I know she’ll take it where it needs to go,” Franklin said. “She’ll take it to the next level, and then I’ll watch it grow more.” For Brown, creativity has been an outlet since childhood, so when she moved to Creston from San Di-
ego in 2012, she gravitated toward Quilts & Other Notions. “I’ve been a lifelong, not seamstress necessarily, but maybe sewist,” Brown said. “My grandmother was a seamstress, and I grew up hand-stitching. I’ve always been a maker of sorts.” When Brown met Franklin, they had a few things in common, including San Diego – Franklin lived there for a while – and an appreciation for art. “She was demoing an embroidery machine that was probably ($10,000),” Brown said. “So, when I found out how much it was, I joked around saying, ‘Can I come work for you and earn the machine?’ She said, ‘Well, why don’t you just buy the fabric store and you can have all the machines?’ So, I had that as a seed in the back of my head that she would have to retire eventually.” Sometime in 2013, Brown began seriously looking into how to fund the venture. Then, when Franklin decided to retire as owner, Brown made the decision to purchase the store. “It’s terrifying to take on this kind of risk ... and it’s safe to say that I’ll be in debt over this a long time, but it’s such a dream,” Brown said. Now as the owner, Brown QUILTS | 2A
Baseball historian: Phil Dixon,
award-winning baseball historian and author from Kansas City, Kansas, introduces himself to a crowd of about 20 people at Gibson Memorial Library in Creston Saturday afternoon. Dixon told several baseball stories about Negro League players during his one-hour program including one about James “Cool Papa” Bell, who Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige called the “fastest player in baseball.” Many said Bell was so fast he could flip the light switch and be in bed before the room got dark. And, Dixon said there may have been some truth to that because one room where Bell stayed had a short in the switch. See videos with more stories by Dixon online at www. crestonnews.com.
CNA photos by KYLE WILSON
Monarchs poster: Kerry Dixon, who has been married to award-winning baseball histo-
rian Phil Dixon for 31 years, presents a Kansas City Monarchs poster to 13-year-old Isaac Shields of Creston, who attended Dixon’s program at Gibson Memorial Library in Creston Saturday afternoon. Dixon spoke heavily about the Kansas City Monarchs, one of the best Negro League teams of all time. The Monarchs would often come to play Creston, including a game documented by the Creston News Advertiser in 1952 whereby the Creston Elks lost to the Monarchs, 7-0, at McKinley Park Diamond. Dixon also stopped in Corning Saturday, as the Monarchs played their town team from time to time, too.
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Volume 132 No. 218
2016
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