She Loves the Coffee, He Loves the Art
Woodbine, Iowa (pop. 1,459) is our featured rural community this week. Woodbine is a community known for working together to get important — and sometimes very ambitious — community projects done. The result is a thriving small town that has made huge progress in revitalizing both its downtown and the community as a whole. We'll be sharing stories throughout the week of some local leaders and business owners who are making an impact in the community. Today's guest blog post is from Nikki Davis, Woodbine’s local barista at Building Grounds and metal artist at Heavy Metal Renaissance.
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It takes a tragedy (or few)...and a village.
We sit in our shops surrounded by what we love: art and coffee.
Well … I love the coffee. He loves the art. We both appreciate them both, but we do always joke that there is a “His” and “Hers” aspect to this business.
For me, it’s not JUST coffee...it’s FANCY coffee. It’s lattes and frappes and tea lattes...it’s lactose free and sugar frees and whipped cream and chocolate drizzle...it’s peanut butter and marshmallows...and cinnamon sprinkles. And, of course, there’s the talking. Man, oh man, do I love to talk!
And when you walk in to Heavy Metal Renaissance and Building Grounds, there’s a lot to talk about. A lot of LOCAL to talk about! Bronze sculptures, Dax Sterner wood working/paintings, Bill Vlcek’s famazing 3-D realistic “paintings,” local coffee soap (made by a 10-year-old artist), woodworking, essential oils, antique dishes, Odd Duck whimsical fun, locally authored books, wooden rocking motorcycles...
And then there’s the metal art and our resident artist.
So if I’m not out front talking (OK...let’s be realistic...I’m always talking...), I’m in the shop, assisting the Heavy Metal artist. You know the type? He’s so creative you wonder what’s going on in his mind. He bends metal and creates the most intricate, interesting, and often subliminal pieces while he looks like he’s just staring off into space. Got a heart he wears on his sleeve. He’s tall. Handsome. Talented. Big blue eyes. He’s...oh. He’s also my husband, Jeff.
But this all happened by accident, really.
To EXTREMELY abbreviate what it took to build our dream: lay-offs, a child turning 18 and another one that was 2, financial hardships, a flood that forced us to evacuate our home in a neighboring town, lack of housing to rent, two buildings in historic, downtown Woodbine going up in flames DAYS before our huge Applefest in September (seriously...we pack 200+ show cars, tractors, flea market, craft fair, food vendors, and like 15,000 people into our town of 1,500...). So, basically it was a series of unfortunate circumstances, but the community of Woodbine rallying around their local newspaper reporter at the time (that would’ve been me, just FYI) and her family, that led to what we claim as our hometown now.
Without writing a book on the subject, let’s just say that if we ever meet, I’d be happy to talk to you about the rock-bottom point we were at in our lives before we were able to move here and build our dream. Which started by tragedy and accident, too.
Jefferson, that handsome and tall resident artist, always dabbled in metal art. I have trinkets from when we were dating in the 1990’s he used to make at work at Local 3 in Omaha, Nebraska. And with an art renaissance happening in our hometown of Woodbine with the help of our Woodbine Main Street and some awesome (and a little crazy) individuals, Jefferson’s curiosity was peaked. So he started to dabble with the quilt squares...made out of metal, of course, in the garage. We posted them on Facebook...
And people wanted them! Then they started asking if he could build “this” or “that.”
That’s when the tragic death of Omaha Police Officer, a wife and new mother with a baby in the NICU, leaving for maternity the next day...
My husband hurt when he heard this news. He wanted to do something. Anything. So he began calling on his Union brothers, explaining what he wanted to do. He lived off of Monsters and no sleep for three days. And he built a tribute that barely fit in our tiny garage: a replica of the Omaha Police Department badge, in honor of Kerrie Orozco. The plan was to haul it out to her squad car and quietly leave it.
That didn’t go as planned, either. Instead, all of a sudden there are newspaper vans in our driveway? Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa????
The friends we made. The officers we met. We hugged. Shook hands. And we realized that art is able to say so much...without saying anything. It speaks a foreign language that no one can interpret the same way. It can touch you in a way that the written word is incapable of. And to this day, we thank our friends at the Omaha Police Department for their kind words and support.
But that was just the beginning of our crazy dream...
Others around us, especially those in our community, must have understood that foreign art language, too. Jeff started creating all sorts of beautiful things in the garage...and we needed a bigger space.
Back to that fire that destroyed the two buildings...that devastated our small town and some great friends of mine...our Main Street and the Woodbine Betterment reached out for grants and added funding...and saved the historic facades...while building brand new buildings behind them. (Woodbine people work miracles, I can attest. And they always rally for each other.)
They put out a request for proposals for what those now-new buildings would be. Applications were submitted. I gave myself a headache trying to write my first EVER business proposal and figure out the financials and what to do with our current jobs...our community aided us in a win for the Open For Business grant offered through Main Street which basically kick-started our business. Our Small Business Development Corporation babysat me through financial planning and business loan applications. Our local Betterment and bank helped us obtain those loans...
But now we’ve been here. Five years. We’ve formed these relationships through artwork with so many people...with a close kinship with several police departments and fire departments, and we are PROUD to say we support blue. We support our military. We support our teachers. We support our local government. We support our youth. We build and create art that speaks that art language. And we feel the love of our community and the support they offer us.
And I get to help now, too, thanks to adapting some crazy computer skills and a few years of learning about metal and CNC tables and CAD software. Oh...and I get make and create these fun coffees and talk. (And talk and talk and talk...)
And we love it. We love every chapter of our story...even the heart-wrenching ones. Because it has all led to...
This.
~Nikki J. Davis
Woodbine’s Local Barista (And part time metal artist who likes to talk.)
Find out more about the rural revival happening in Woodbine, Iowa here:
EPISODE 104 // MINDY CROOK AND DARIN SMITH OF ARCH ICON
GOOD FELLOWS: A STORY OF SECOND CHANCES
RURAL ROUTE ROAD TRIP: WOODBINE, IOWA
And be sure to stop by Woodbine on your next trip to the Loess Hills!
Find all the great places to stop in our Loess Hills Field Guide.