Very Sad News … And Yet A Ray of Hope
Most of us have seen this coming, as we watched the number of Stitching Festival shows around the country be cut back drastically over the last few years … until this year, when there was only one show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and, of course, there was a great deal of chatter and speculation because it took a rather frighteningly long time for the Stitching Festival website to be updated with 2007’s class and other show information. However, it is still with a very heavy needle that I write of this stitching tragedy: Liz Turner Diehl (Blogroll) and Stoney Creek’s (Blogroll) Marilyn Vredevelt have announced that the Stitching Festivals, previously called the Creative Arts and Teaching Show (CATS), previously called the Creative Arts and Textiles Show (also CATS), have officially closed their doors.
In my opinion, the name changes hurt their business, as did the fact that they never had a location which served midwestern US stitchers well (a very surprising thing, since Stoney Creek, who was one of the main sponsors and coordinators of the show for its entire run, is located in a beautiful midwestern city itself — Grand Rapids, Michigan) — Des Moines was and is just too out of the way and too small to fit the bill. What about St. Louis or Chicago — both cities with huge, dynamic, international airports (and at least halfway decent public transportation, too)? Too expensive? Then go to a suburb of one of those cities instead; just going 15 to 30 minutes from the airport would reduce costs dramatically for both event organizers and event attendees. Too busy and confusing traffic-wise? (What? Compared to New York City or Atlanta? LOL … ) Then what about a city like Indianapolis? It’s got a slightly smaller but still very functional international airport, though it does not have the halfway decent public transportation Chicago and St. Louis do (of course, if you leave the downtown area of either of those cities, public transportation is a crapshoot or non-existent anyway). And there are easily dozens of midwestern cities I’ve never been to which would make great locations for a “traveling stitching festival” — cities YOU know and love because you live in, or have been to them for one reason or another. Please see below, because I want to hear about them.
The good news — at least for east coast stitchers (the thousands upon thousands of midwestern stitchers are still being left out, unfortunately), is Marilyn decided almost immediately that she couldn’t desert us completely. Therefore, she announced Stoney Creek will be organizing a new event called the Stitching Jubilee, which will begin next year. It will start off occurring in only one location: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, from October 2 - 4, 2008. Marilyn is promising that the new website (Blogroll) will be up and running no later than January 15, 2008. (I’ll keep checking and will make a post to let you know when it IS up and running; right now, clicking on that link will give you an error.) In the meantime, you already can sign up for more information here (Blogroll). Further information will also be available, of course, in Stoney Creek Cross Stitch Collection magazine, which is one of my favorite subscriptions.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to swing a trip to Valley Forge myself (which is a location I personally preferred to the Hershey location. I got the chance to check them both out when I lived in New Jersey, at which time they were conveniently located for me, and I was constantly hungry in Hershey … must have been the smell of chocolate in the air because that’s all I wanted to eat, too! I think I gained twenty pounds every weekend I went there, LOL), but I’ll definitely try. I hope a lot of you will try, too, because if this venture doesn’t do well, clearly, it won’t continue.
Although it makes perfect business sense for Marilyn to select the east coast to begin her Stitching Jubilee venture, as the east coast is where the Stitching Festival was always most successful, I look forward to seeing the Stitching Jubilee grow — and I hope THIS venture will grow WELL into the midwest, too. With that in mind, I want to hear from you, as mentioned above. Despite all my traveling, there are literally dozens of great midwestern cities I have never been to and thus know little to nothing about; I want to help Marilyn select the BEST and most viable choices for Stitching Jubilee locations, but I need your help to do it. So I hope stitchers from all over the midwest (and anywhere else, if you’d be willing to travel to the midwest) will comment on this post with their suggestions for a midwestern location you would find convenient to attend — wherever that may be. Please tell me not only the name of the city, but also the reasons it would make a great location for the Stitching Jubilee. If I get enough responses (at least one hundred) I’ll forward the answers to Marilyn myself — but only if those answers wouldn’t make it look like I’d sprayed buckshot all over the center of a US map! 
So please try to consider traveling instead of having it in your back yard (unless you’re already located in a really good location with a great airport 
). The location needs to be within a four to six hour drive of most of the rest of the midwest to be “perfect,” and it must have a really good international airport. (Why international? Because we want the Stitching Jubilee to be able to bring us designers from other countries to teach classes, too, and because there are always a good-sized number of stitchers from around the world who manage to travel to an event such as this if they are provided with the requiremed means to do so; we certainly don’t want to leave those stitchers out because if they can afford to travel to this event, then they can probably also afford to spend money on classes and in the market to help make it a rousing success! ) A good public transportation system is a huge plus, and having a train hub is also a significant plus, in my opinion. (Personally, I’d far rather take a train than drive myself — OR fly. If I were traveling with someone else and thus sharing gas costs and the driving, then driving becomes a bit more attractive … but not much, LOL, as I could be stitching all the way on a train!) Also, please tell every stitcher you know about this post, so that we get enough comments to make this a worthwhile survey. . Here are the links to this post (just highlight, copy, and paste): http://independentneedleworknews.com/2007/12/16/stitching-jubilee/ or http://tinyurl.com/34v4jg
Please help me help Marilyn bring the Stitching Jubilee to ALL stitchers! After all, this is the season of giving … It’s time to give back to a designer who has given us a great deal over the years.
Technorati Tags: CATS, Creative Arts and Textiles Show, Creative Arts and Teaching Show, Stitching Festival, Stitching Jubilee, Marilyn Vredevelt, Liz Turner Diehl, Stoney Creek
December 16th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Rosemont, IL. Suburb of Chicago, closer to O’Hare than any venue actually within the city. The Rosemont Convention Center is large, clean and beuatiful, and lots of hotels and restaurants nearby.
I do NOT recommend Chicago itself because we’ve got a monstrous transit mess going on which would barely affect a Rosemont venue but if allowed to continue unchecked could make getting into and around Chicago rather difficult for the natives and impossible for visitors. Plus it seems that our esteemed mayor is too busy courting the Olympic site selection committee for the 2016 games to care what else is going on around here. And Rosemont will be significantly less expensive for everything.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:26 am
Thanks for the super answer, Jenn … exactly what I’m looking for in terms of reasons to choose or not choose a location, too.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I think a good Midwest town would be Grand Rapids, MI. With the possible venues (DeVos Center to name one), restaurants, hotels, museums and shopping in the area it would be a good choice. It’s also Stoney Creek’s home town. Where better to launch a Midwest jubilee? Public transport is wide-spread and most things in downtown GR are in walking distance. And for those spouses who accompany the stitchers, GR has plenty of things to do: movies, a Presidential Museum, the GR Griffins, the GR Rampage, the VanAndel Arena.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
I’m in Rochester, NY, so Valley Forge works for me, but so would eastern midwest cities (if that makes sense!). VF is a good 6 hour drive for me, but so is Cleveland. I’m no help with suggestions for midwest cities, but I just wanted to spread the word: a preliminary version of the Stitching Jubilee website is UP! Check it out!
December 18th, 2007 at 12:30 am
In spite of recent bad publicity, Omaha is a nice city for meetings. The crazy quilters do well there every year. Not only airports, but also trains serve the town. I hope someone who knows more about the area will suggest it. I know nothing of the public transportation issues.
When I flew into Chicago, I went to Midway, instead of O’Hare, and I stayed about 20 minutes away in a Comfort Inn that was quite nice. I would imagine that there are many alternatives around the city area.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:50 am
I’m afraid that since I’m from NJ, the Valley Forge location sounds just fine to me.
On a different note, tell us more about the Stoney Creek maagazine? I saw it in Barnes & Noble the other day, but didn’t do more than glance at it.
December 18th, 2007 at 1:05 am
I worked in downtown Indianapolis for seven years (I live in a suburb), and Indy gets a great deal of convention business, and I think it is deserved. I’ve seen everything from religious-related conventions to a Star Wars convention! There has also been a quilting show in recent years, not sure of the organization, but they might be able to provide you with information, since it would be a similar type of convention. Currently, the convention center downtown is being expanded. The city is equipped and accustomed to hosting events given the Indy 500 and other racing events. Indy is also frequently chosen to host college basketball events. I think the central midwest location is a big factor (it is within a day’s drive of lots of places)! Downtown is pretty close to the airport, which is really easy to get around in, and there is a very nice mall and lots of restaurants downtown. I was always comfortable downtown when I worked there, even at night. I’m hoping to be able to attend the event in October in Philly as my husband’s family is there. Thanks!
December 18th, 2007 at 4:45 am
Nell,
Thank you for your suggestion and reasoning. As one of two or more midwest locations, which I personally think is a necessity at some point (because the midwest is HUGE, and there are thousands of stitchers all over it who deserve the opportunity to attend an event like the Stitching Jubilee), I would certainly agree that Grand Rapids would make an extremely agreeable choice. I’ve only been there once, but it was a lovely city, and I agree about it having lots for spouses to do, too.
However, as an only choice, I don’t feel it’s very viable simply because it isn’t centrally located enough, just as Des Moines, Iowa wasn’t/isn’t, for other Midwest stitchers. The location needs to be within a four to six hour drive of most of the rest of the midwest to be “perfect,” and have a really good airport. A good public transportation system is a huge plus, and having a train hub is also a significant plus, in my opinion. (Personally, I’d far rather take a train than drive myself — OR fly. If I were traveling with someone else and thus sharing gas costs and the driving, then driving becomes a bit more attractive … but not much, LOL, as I could be stitching all the way on a train!) I’ll update the post with this information, in fact, so stitchers are thinking along these lines when they answer the question.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:48 am
Jeanne,
Your suggestion of eastern midwestern cities certainly does make sense; thank you. Cleveland is a nice city, I agree. I also like Cincinnati very much.
Thank you for helping to spread the word, and also for helping to get the thinking caps on and tuned!
December 18th, 2007 at 4:53 am
Allura,
I’d be happy to tell you more about Stoney Creek magazine; of course, you can follow the link, too, and get some good information there. I’m behind, though, on everything, so a detailed post will have to wait. I can say that it is and has been one of my favorite subscriptions for many years, largely because I am a Halloween nut and am especially enamored of Stoney Creek’s witches. In fact, Stoney Creek’s witch this year was GORGEOUS …
More later, and hopefully soon … but please be patient with me, as I have promised many people more info on a number of different things, and it’s the holiday season (as we all know), I still have to wrap and mail gifts, I still have to write and send cards, and I still am dealing with a lot of medical issues (trying to cram in as much as I can medically prior to the end of the year because right now, it’s not costing me a dime, but come January 1st, I’ll have to pay 20%).
December 18th, 2007 at 4:56 am
Jenny,
Thanks so much for the details on Indianapolis; they are very helpful! I have found it to be an easy city to get around in myself, although it is growing at a fast pace, and so sometimes traffic can be a bit snarled … but usually for something like a stitching festival, we stitchers are holed up somewhere stitching rather than driving around doing a lot of exploring of the area … Usually.
I have to admit I’m biased toward Indianapolis myself as it’s only two hours from me, but I think it has a LOT of things going for it which would make it an excellent choice for a future Stitching Jubilee venue.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:58 am
Susan,
Omaha, Nebraska is definitely a city I would never have thought of, since I have never been there … I, too, would like to hear more from someone who can fill in the details.
December 30th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Here’s the Omaha information I received from Carole Samples:
Omaha has a super-duper airport and super-easy access to thousands of hotel rooms. Downtown is so configured as to offer as much personal security as is probably possible in an urban environment.
I wish I could tell you if there still remains a world-class needlearts shop in town, but there is Mangelsen’s, and there are three Hobby Lobbys. If the event could be scheduled before or after the College World Series in June (dates unknown) and NOT in the terrible heat of summer, your ladies would probably have a wonderful time.
Oh, yes: visitors can also get HERE by bus & by train, as well as by plane or car. Try these:
http://www.wowt.com , http://www.ketv.com , and http://www.kptm.com . If you google the Doubletree Hotel chain, you can find out about the best and biggest hotel in town, I believe (and it’s downtown, very close to the airport).
The Joslyn Museum of Art has one of the most renowned collection of important works of any regional museum; the Durham Western Heritage Museum has lovely stuff and brilliant installations all of the time; the Old Market has amazing antique stores & places to eat (and it’s within long walking distance to the Doubletree); and every major religious group will find an awesome edifice for worshipping, if anyone wishes to do that. The Chamber of Commerce would no doubt be too glad to help you plan something very special, given enough lead time.