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Are there any Amish at the show?
Normally there are not any Amish at the show. Unfortunately the
distance from Lancaster County to most of our shows is too great.
Since the Amish do not fly or drive, they would have to travel to
a show by train or bus, an experience that can be both grueling
and time consuming. Also many of our crafts people still farm or
have other jobs which means they can't be away from home for an
extended period of time. Finally, most aren't willing to be separated
form their families for that long.
About half of
the people working at the show are from Lancaster County and even
though they're not Amish, they would be glad to answer your questions
about the Amish. Although Craig, the owner of the business is not
Amish, he did portray one in the movie "Witness". You
can see him early in the movie, standing in a doorway during the
funeral scene. He's only on the screen for about two seconds, so
don't blink or you'll miss him.
Will there
be Amish food at the show?
We
do not sell any perishable foods such as bread, pies, or cheese.
However we do sell a wide variety of non perishable foods such as
noodles, jams, apple butters, and other Amish favorites.
If I went
to Lancaster County, could I buy the quilts for less?
We price our quilts to be competitive with the larger quilt shops
in Lancaster County. If you had the energy and a lot of time to
spend, you could probably save some money by traveling to Lancaster
County, driving from farm to farm and buying directly from the Amish.
Of course there are some problems in doing this. A lot of Amish
quilters do not sell directly to the public. The ones that do generally
have much smaller inventories than you would find at our show. If
you were looking for a specific size, pattern or color, you could
spend a lot of time traveling across the back roads of Lancaster
County looking for it.
How do you get
everything to the show?
All of our items come direct from Lancaster County in one very large
tractor trailer which you can normally see parked outside the show.
Because we are very good at packing and since a lot of our items (like
quilts for example) pack up very tight, we can actually do two shows
from one truck load. If you look at our schedule, you will see that
we do two shows in a row and then have a week or two off. During that
time the truck is going back to Lancaster, reloading, and then heading
on to the next set of shows.
Other than the
truck driver, the rest of us fly to the show. It takes one day and
about a dozen people to unload the truck and set up a show. When
a show closes on Saturday, it takes all evening to tear everything
back down and load it on the truck.
Why are you
not open on Sunday like most craft shows?
Most Amish do not believe in working or earning money on Sunday.
Because most of our items are sold on consignment, most Amish would
view any sale we make on Sunday as a sale they were also making.
Out of respect for this belief, we do not open on Sunday.
How much of a purchase goes back to the person who made it?
Our markup varies from item to item. However, in all instances,
the bulk of every purchase is passed directly on to the craft person
who provided it. In addition, unlike many consignment arrangements,
we do not charge our suppliers any fees for carrying and selling
their items.
Why do some
of your shows charge admission and others don't?
For most of our existence we have tried to keep all of our shows
free. Unfortunately, our expenses are growing faster than sales.
For some shows, these expenses (including hall rental, shipping,
advertising, labor) can easily exceed $20,000. Given the choice
of eliminating our most expensive shows or charging a nominal fee
we chose the second option. For some of our shows (San Diego, Orange
County, Minnesota, and Chicago/Saint Charles) we now charge an
admission of $3.00 a person (free to children 17 and under). We
hope this will generate enough revenue for us to continue going
to these locations.
The good news
is that anyone on our mailing lists (postal or email) receives
a $1 discount off the admission for themselves and everyone in
their party. Visitors to this web site can also get the discount
by going to the Show Schedule page and then clicking on the show
they are interested in, highlighting the coupon section and then
printing it.
If you would
like to share the discount with others, feel free to do so. We
will accept copies of the coupons. Also, as we mentioned above,
you only need one coupon for everyone in your group.
What's the
difference between Amish and Mennonites?
Both share the same cultural heritage, but in general Amish will
be more conservative. Almost all Amish still live without electricity
and travel by horse and buggy. Mennonite churches range from very
conservative (still traveling by horse and buggy) to fairly contemporary
(driving cars and dressing much the same as the general public).
Historically, the Mennonites were the original faith that the Amish
separated from. We sell quilts and crafts from both faiths.
Can I get
someone to make the quilt I want?
We strongly discourage anyone from special ordering quilts from
us (or anyone else for that matter). From past experience we have
found the whole process to be very frustrating for everyone involved.
It takes a long time to make a quilt under the best circumstances
and even longer for a special ordered one. Waiting times of over
a year have not been uncommon. And after all that time, sometimes
the quilt doesn't match what had been visualized by the buyer. Other
times, the quilter will finish a quilt only to find out that circumstances
have changed for the buyer and they no longer want it. As a result
of all these problems, we no longer accept special orders.
I'm planning
a trip to Lancaster County, do you have any advice?
The traditional time to visit has always been summer but lately fall
has become increasingly popular. I personally, would plan a visit
for late spring or early fall when it is not as hot and you still
have a good chance to seeing the Amish farmers working their fields.
One of the best
ways to appreciate Lancaster County is to get a map and travel the
back roads of eastern Lancaster County (Paradise, Intercourse, Bird
in Hand, New Holland, Strasburg, etc.) where you'll find most of
the Amish farms. Keep in mind when you plan your itinerary that
many Lancaster and all Amish businesses are closed on Sunday.
If you're flying
to Lancaster, there are a number of possible airports. There is
the Lancaster airport (LNS) that is very convenient but has limited
flights. We usually fly out of Harrisburg (MDT) which is only 45
minutes away and is serviced by most major airlines. Two other choices
are Philadelphia (PHL) and Baltimore-Washington (BWI). In general
BWI offers lower rates but is further away than the others and doesn't
offer an easy direct rout to Lancaster.
Do you have
a shop or catalog?
No. We think Lancaster County has enough quilt and craft shops without
us adding another one. We once had a catalog but found it was out
of date almost as soon as it was published. The Amish have a tendency
to change prices or discontinue items with very little warning making
it very hard to keep everything current. Also with the entire organization
on the road for long chunks of time, we found it sometimes difficult
to fill orders with the speed they deserved. As a result, we no
longer have a catalog.
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