1/2/2024 0 Comments Grounded cafe![]() Last year, Laura joined with other downtown women shop owners to launch the Firefly Nights Festival series. That includes being among the founders of the Black Swamp Arts Festival, and supporters of all manner of community events. They with members of their staff traveled to Columbia to visit a coffee farmer there, and then were in New York City to receive a national award from Americans for the Arts to recognize the shop’s extensive support for the arts in the community. ![]() In the weeks leading up to the anniversary celebration, Kelly and Laura have been away. When Madhatter closed, he said, “it made sense without stepping on anybody’s toes to add vinyl.” Kelly Wicks has been collecting records since 1976 when he bought his first records - Foreigner and Elton John - from Finders Records. That development seemed natural after the shop started selling used LPs. Tree No Leaves released an album last year on the Grounds for Thought record label, which will mark its 10th anniversary next spring, probably with another release. That will include a sneak peak screening of “Waiting to Arrive,” a public TV documentary on the band. when the shop will present a blues jam featuring Maurice John Vaughn, Shirley Johnson, Freddie Dixon and John Watkins.ĭustin Galish with Tree No Leaves performing at Grounds for Thought in 2016.Ĭlosing out the weekend will be a show by Tree No Leaves at 7 p.m. That contrast will be evident on Saturday night at 8 p.m. I’ve seen very lively rock shows there as well as more intimate, listening room type shows which is cool.” Plus I think the environment will lend itself to our performance. “So we’re happy to help celebrate their anniversary with our release. “BG is where we’re from and Grounds has been a cultural and arts hub of our hometown for as long as I can remember,” he said. Zack Fletcher, frontman for Moths, said that this is the first full show the trio will perform at Grounds. On Friday night Moths in the Attic will release its self-titled debut recording at an 8 p.m. Over the years Grounds has hosted performers from around the world and around the corner. She organizes the shop’s Christmas boutique.Īnd the celebration will feature lots of music. Her son described her as the shop’s resident artist who designs the window, in-house displays, and a variety of quirky craft items, made from paper from discarded books and old coffee bean sacks. Sandy, who manages the used book operation, will create a window design celebrating the shop’s 30 years. There’ll be free t-shirts, raffles, and door prizes. There’ll be 50 cent cups of drip coffee with free refills - a nod to the Maxwell House the shop served early on along with its specialty coffee. 27, as the shop celebrates its 30th anniversary. The shop has grown from 1,800 square feet to 7,000 square feet and from 9,000 books to a stock of 250,000 books, comics, vinyl records, and DVDs.Īll those items will be half price this weekend, Friday Oct. (Photo provided)īeside coffee and tea in a variety of forms, it offers sandwiches made in store, fancy cakes, delectables from local bakers, and ice cream. The shop had a kids area from the beginning. Rowan and Declan Wicks at play in Grounds for Thought. So she stood her ground, and the shop went its own way. They didn’t want to have to put up with smoke. Sandy replied she didn’t smoke nor did her grown children Kelly and Bridget, who ran the shop. The shop was never going to make it if it didn’t allow smoking. ![]() Some early supporters, Sandy recalls, had advice. Wicks family, from left, Kelly, Rowan, Laura, Sandy, and Jerry. “Somehow people started coming in,” she recalled. And they started wondering about this bit of venture capitalism. This was the Wicks family’s version of the “funky little” coffee shops and bookstores they’d encountered traveling the byways between here and Arizona, as well as elsewhere. The shop had just opened in space formerly occupied by Evans office supplies. Sandy Wicks remembers watching people walk by Grounds for Thought on the morning of Oct.
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