Willimantic, Now & Then
In part, closing our shop is one in a series of big changes for Sarah and me. We lost my mother in May, when she died unexpectedly. We had not gotten over the shock of that terrible loss when my best friend of the last 30 years –Tony Clark – died in July. In Tony’s case, the fact that it was expected didn’t make it any easier. These two events changed our lives and rocked our world.
By Mark Svetz
WILLIMANTIC –December 2009
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Clothworks:
A Work in Progress!
Change is in the air. As I sit here, gazing down Pleasant Street, just catching a glimpse of the bright yellow of the leaves on a maple tree down at the corner of Lebanon Avenue, I am reminded that all the trees were lush and green a just a few weeks ago. Now, most of the trees in my sight are bare, ready for winter.
Do the maple trees feel all the emotions I am feeling? Is change as difficult for them as it is for me? Perhaps not. They do it every year, after all.
First, and most important, I feel melancholy at the thought of closing the door at 31 Church Street forever. I have loved working there for the last three years, dyeing fabric and making clothes and bags for my friends and neighbors. I have loved being part of this special community in this very special way. For all of that, I want to say “Thank You!” to the greater Willimantic community.
I also feel a certain amount of excitement as we prepare for what might come next, maybe we will go to more music festivals and craft shows. Sarah and I started this business going to craft shows, and I have to say, I loved that, too.
One of the ways in which our world was rocked is that when we lost Tony, our housing situation changed dramatically. We have enjoyed Tony’s good fortune and generosity for the last six years, living in his house on Pleasant Street.
Perhaps we will end up working out of our home, wherever that may be. We are used to that. We did it for the first three years in our apartment on Pleasant Street, and for five years before that, in our tiny Manhattan apartment.
I will also spend this Winter thinking about some of our favorite music festivals: the Great Clearwater Hudson River Revival; Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance, near the Finger Lakes in New York State; LEAF (Lake Eden Arts Festival) in the mountains of North Carolina. I’m getting a little chill of excitement already!
We have a newer van now, and the 1,000-mile radius within which we travel to shows seems less daunting. Our old Dodge Caravan (which had 200,000 miles on it when we bought it seven years ago!) was starting to protest at even the closer shows.
I believe our new van has enough room in it for us to sleep even when we are loaded for a festival! That means we will be able to go farther, stay longer and have more fun along the way!
I hope we will still have local outlets like the Coventry Regional Farmers’ Market (every Sunday from Jun through October from 11-2), Taste Organic, and the Downtown Country Fair, at the Willimantic Food Co-op.
Sarah and I are also excited about having more flexibility in our schedule. We find that we like having the shop where our friends and neighbors can stop in to see us, but it will be nice to take a break in the middle of a hot summer day to go to the river for a swim!
I have always been an optimistic person. I choose to dwell on gains rather than the losses. I know I will miss going to work at 31 Church Street. I know I will miss being part of the downtown Willimantic community. These are very sad times for me. So much loss; so much crying.
Mark Svetz and Sarah Winter own Clothworks, a shop on Church Street in Downtown Willimantic, where they have made and sold clothing and bags for the last three years. Look for their new “on-line shop” at SarahWinterClothworks.com
Tony’s passing ended an era for us, and put a lot more pressure on Clothworks. We would now have to pay “market rates” for a place to live. That’s a sobering thought.
So, there it is. We will close our Church Street shop after Christmas this year. We will be open six days a week during December. We will spend a lot of time this winter soul searching and job searching! We hope to come up with a plan.
But take heart…!
I plan to console myself by going to the new and exciting Cafemantic for a cup of coffee in the middle of the day. And in the spring, I will reflect on the experience of running a shop while Sarah and I sit on the rocks in the sun at the Mt. Hope River.
11:9TipiLiving
Like the leaves in fall, Clothworks is preparing itself for a big change: We are closing our shop on Church Street. Sarah and I will still make things out of hemp and organic cotton. We hope to sell them on-line and at music festivals.
Now, I find myself in the familiar position of feeling sad for the door that’s closing; and very excited for the one that’s opening. I felt exactly like this when we left Manhattan after living on the Lower East Side for 10 years: I was – and I still am – sad about leaving, but I was wildly happy about moving back to Willimantic!
I am buoyed right now by the knowledge that I have never regretted that decision, although I am still occasionally sad about it.
