Business
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
A3
A ‘unique boutique’
opens in John Day
Store offers
variety of
handmade gifts
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
Larry and Bonnie Maplesden stand for a photo outside
the old John Day Fire Hall. The couple’s bid for the
building was recently approved by the John Day City
Council. They plan to repair the building to house
Hutch’s Printing Co., which they are purchasing.
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Old fire hall to
become print shop
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Sherrie Rininger, right, shows Kristi Haberly a necklace she recently made at her new
shop in John Day called Etc.
Sherrie Rininger shows
one of her many necklaces
available for sale.
This friendly rooster
follows Sherrie Rininger
wherever she goes, and
is now perched near the
window of her Etc. shop.
gather at the coffee shop in
Monterey County, California,
on a regular basis to make
crafts at one of the tables.
Sherrie started transforming
the coffee cups and napkins
into earrings and necklaces,
giving them to the baristas to
wear.
“My friends encouraged
me to start making jewelry,”
she said.
What started out as a hob-
by has turned into a passion.
A good portion of her time
designing jewelry is spent
searching for the perfect
stones that catch her eye at
bead shows.
“I spend hours upon hours
and days upon days searching
for stones — it has to speak
to me,” she said. “I never or-
der stones through the mail. I
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have to feel them, touch them
and make sure they’re good
quality.”
Sherrie retired from her
position as executive assistant
to the CEO of Harbor Freight
Tools, and Dale retired from
his career in the Navy and as
manager of various outpatient
facilities.
“We knew we wanted to
retire in Oregon,” Sherrie
said. “You couldn’t ask for a
sweeter town. We just love it
here.”
She and Dale plan to even-
tually open a back room for
crafting workshops, and they
would like to include more
vendors in the future.
She said the store is gain-
ing in popularity, and she has
repeat customers.
“I wanted to open before
the summer, so that visitors
to the area could take home
a piece of John Day,” she
said. “When you walk into a
place and see something that
is unique, that you can’t find
everywhere, that’s special.”
Etc. is open from 9 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through
Saturdays and from 12-4 p.m
Sundays.
Hutch’s Printing Co. will
be getting a new home in the
old John Day City Fire Hall.
Bonnie and Larry Ma-
plesden are in the process of
finalizing the purchase of the
old fire hall and are prepar-
ing to turn it back into part of
the community.
The Maplesdens’ bid of
$67,000 was approved by
the John Day City Council
during a Jan. 24 city council
meeting.
The couple said they were
attracted to the fire hall be-
cause of its price, location
and the cement floors.
“Print presses are heavy
and they beat a wood floor to
pieces,” Bonnie Maplesden
said.
They plan to offer all the
same services, just under a
different roof.
However, the fire hall is
in need of repairs before it
can be a functioning busi-
ness again. Among them are
new paint, electrical work,
improved lighting and fixing
the leaky roof.
They plan to keep the
current color scheme of red,
white and black. They also
want to devote part of the
building to memorializing
the old fire hall and past fire-
fighters.
“When people come visit-
ing, they like to see the histo-
ry of the local area,” Bonnie
Maplesden said. “There’s the
Kam Wah Chung, the Oliver
museum, the rodeo museum
and this has history too, so
Debbie Ausmus
245 South Canyon Blvd.
John Day, OR 97845
OPEN WED. & THUR.
9 am - 5 pm
541-575-1113
24 hrs/7 days wk
debbie.ausmus@
countryfinancial.com
we’d like to develop that.”
John Day Fire Chief Ron
Smith said the memorial is
a kind gesture, and he was
looking into letting the Ma-
plesdens use old hoses, noz-
zles, turnout gear and poten-
tially even an old hand cart
used for fighting fires in the
early 1900s.
Smith began working
at the old fire hall in 2004
and said the building was
outdated for the firefight-
ers’ needs and modern en-
gines were too large for
the building. The current
fire hall was built last year,
and while it was bittersweet
to leave the old one, Smith
said he is thankful taxpayers
were willing to invest in a
new facility.
The Maplesdens are mov-
ing the printing company be-
cause the currently facility is
vulnerable to flooding and has
a high ceiling, making it diffi-
cult to efficiently heat. Current
owner Bill “Hutch” Hutchin-
son will continue to work at
Hutch’s but wanted to dedi-
cate more time to his maps of
motorcycle routes in the area,
Larry Maplesden said.
His maps are known
around the northwest and
bring tourists into the coun-
ty, Bonnie Maplesden said,
adding the motorcyclists are
typically amicable and ap-
preciative.
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MON-THURS (12:45) (4:00) 7:20 9:35
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The first human born on Mars travels to Earth
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05259
“Shop small.”
That is Sherrie Rininger’s
theme these days. She wears
a pin with those words on
her sweater at her new shop,
called Etc.
When Rininger opened
the doors of her “unique bou-
tique” Dec. 5, she also opened
doors for several local arti-
sans.
“I needed a spot, and I
wanted to help out the crafters
in the area,” she said. “I felt
there was a need for them to
have a place to showcase their
crafts.”
Browsing the shop at 133
W. Main St. in John Day, vis-
itors will find one-of-a-kind
handcrafted gifts from a total
of nine Grant County vendors.
Rininger’s display of
handmade jewelry includes
several styles, incorporating
semi-precious stones such as
turquoise and opal, as well as
jasper, agate, amber and coral.
She even uses antler, buffa-
lo teeth and bullets for some
necklaces and earrings.
Also on display are unique
wind chimes she has made of
wine and liquor bottles with
colorful beads and a variety of
themes such as hunting, hors-
es and sports, as well as more
traditional chimes. She also
makes hummingbird feeders.
The other vendors offer
an array of choices, includ-
ing scented soaps and lotions
from Rose Howe, wildlife
woodcarvings from Sue
Cockrell, upcycled crafts
from Sherri Preston-McGuire
and wooden drinking vessels
from Rick Callahan.
Michele Bishop sews
aprons, receiving blankets
and other items for the store.
KJ Kuhn offers handmade
chocolates, and samples are
available. Tim Coe creates
wooden toys such as airplanes
and small rocking horses. And
Janine Justice paints gourds
and stones.
Rininger’s husband, Dale,
is her right-hand man when it
comes to running the shop. He
also makes the display cases
and furniture for the store out
of wooden pallets and cuts
glass bottles for wind chimes,
as well as the bullets for jew-
elry.
The Riningers, who have
lived in John Day for five
years, have been regulars at
the local bazaars and the John
Day Farmers Market.
Sherrie has been making
jewelry for 10 years.
“It all started at a Star-
bucks,” she said.
She and her friends would