Large turn-out for Leslie Lemke's Christmas Sale
Wearing one of her Christmas shirts, Leslie Lemke greets customers as she stands behind the counter of her recent Sweet Pea event. As people shopped, the smell of freshly cooked kettle corn filled the air.
Leslie Lemke stands beside her Sweet Pea 1967 camper. A camper she has traveled throughout the midwest in, selling her various items at events. Leslie had her special camper on display for shoppers, to showcase special items this last weekend.
Leslie Lemke had a busy weekend, as she held her final Christmas sale located south of Lawrence. Many turned out for this fun-filled holiday event. The sale was scheduled for Saturday, but because of the forcasted nasty weather conditions, Leslie decided to extend the sale through Sunday.
Leslie was born in Hastings and moved to the Lawrence area when she married her husband in 1993. They raised three children, all of them graduating from Blue Hill High School.
With more free time on her hands, she decided to start a business of her own. She created ‚ "Sweet Pea Vintage‚" a business focused on beautifying a person's every day life with various vintage items. She travels to pop up markets all across the Midwest in her 1967 Companion vintage camper. A camper she calls her‚ "Sweet Pea trailer-camper," filled to the brim with cute items.
For the past 15 years, Leslie has held sales at a location a half mile from her home, on the old "Miller Homestead." The property is owned by her brother-in-law, and she has used the home as a place to showcase her items and to have special sales for different holidays during the year. The property is just three miles south of Lawrence. With the signs, it's not hard to find at all.
Saturday and Sunday every room in the home-store was filled to the brim with beautiful items. Shirts, hand bags, candles, hats, signs, room decor, different holiday items and many hand crafted items. All high quality items at very reasonable prices. In the back room of the home, Leslie's sister and brother-in-law set up their business. Susan and Joe Garcia own and operate Ol' Glory Kettle Corn, a business selling kettle corn products and operating an Americana, "Patritique" store. Their items filled the back rooms, and as soon as you entered the home you could smell the freshly cooked kettle corn.
This was the last sale held at the old Miller homestead. Leslie and her husband are planning on moving the business to their own property. The plan is to clean out the west side of their property, which has children's play boxes and houses. Then they will bring in a pre-made building they've already ordered. The building is being made by a Mennonite community just outside of Table Rock. The building will be arriving in early or March April.
The Lemkes plan on doing all the finishing work inside the building on their own, with the expectation of having the store ready in the fall of 2025. Half of the building will be for store purposes, and the back half of the building will be reserved for classes, demonstrations and to hold their special inventory.
Reader Comments(0)