Photo by Jeff Baughan Kay Powers is reflected in a mirror at her downtown St. Marys shop. Whippoorwill Artworks is an outlet for local artists, woodworkers, metal workers and craftsmen.

ST. MARYS — The large glass windows along Second Street reads “Whippoorwill Artworks.”

Inside, the sounds on this particular day of Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles and James Taylor, along with the friendly yaps of Willis, a black miniature poodle, fill the air.

“He’s the official greeter for all who walk through the doors,”  Kay Powers says of Willis. Kay, along with husband Mike, are the owners of Whippoorwill. It is so named after their home, Whippoorwill Farm on Snake Route.

The studio is located in the former Shouldis Department Store in downtown. It was also at times, a Ben Franklin five and dime store, a confectionary store, a hat shop and hardware store. Now it houses artwork from local painters, wood carvers, quilters, antiques, a knife carver. Deliveries are as unique as a birthday present. You never know what someone is coming through the door with. One man’s scrap wood is another’s craft in waiting.

For Powers, the store is what she and others have termed, their “happy place.”

Photo by Jeff Baughan Willis, Kay Powers’ miniature poodle, joins her at the front of the store. The painted areas of the floor, to the left, is where a brick wall at one time separated the building into more than one store. To the right, is an area at the front of the store. Renovations to the former Shouldis Department Store produced the areas covered in plywood. Powers painted over the plywood to the original oak flooring.

“I have customers who come in and tell me if they could have a chair, they could sit here for hours with a book and good bottle of wine,” Kay said. “You get the right sounds and smells and any place can be a happy place. This place just happens to be mine. And others, it’s the same.”

The building, which was built in 1915, has eight chimneys throughout. There was four months of renovations, during which more was removed than added, and Kay said “Mike was the driving force behind this. But it was mostly dirty, yucky, smelly work. It’s still a work in progress too.”

She said drop ceilings hung from the ceiling with cold lights. What was discovered in the darkness of the space between the ceiling and the drop ceiling was the original tin ceiling tiles. The drop ceiling dropped to the floor and out the door. The floor tiles and all floor coverings beneath were removed layer by layer until the original oak wood floors were found. One could tell from the sound of her voice she was glad the flooring was out the door as well.

The gap where a wall once stood to divide the stores was found covered with plywood. For an artist such as Kay, it was a wooden canvas begging for some paint and a design. But there are marks on the wood floor which she didn’t want to cover. “The floors are from the hardware store,” she said. “It’s where people moved boxes and bags across the floors. The hardware store was part of St. Marys’ history. The marks are part of the store history. They stayed.”

The building was cold. The duct work needed a redo. The electrical work needed a rewire. All were enclosed and made as a decorative overhead  and looked as natural as the rest of the ceiling. Ceiling fans whirled and the three metal chandeliers from Rinky Dinks put out a warming light throughout the studio. Be jealous HGTV and DIY.

Photo by Jeff Baughan Kay Powers’ Whippoorwill Artworks shop is located on Second Street in St. Marys.

Kay remarked she moved to St. Marys from the Williamstown area, “around 1970, eh 1971,” she said. “I worked at Fenton for five years and have been in juried work with Tamarack. We rolled up and down the east coast for years doing art shows as ‘Whippoorwill Farm.’

The duo also had another sideline they did as a couple. They moved houses. Old wooden houses. But not that put them on the back of a semi-truck way. No, take apart and rebuild way. Their way was grown-up Lincoln Logs.

“Mike would look at me and say ‘we were cool before ‘Barn Builders’ ever thought about being cool,” Kay said.  Their Snake Route home is actually three different homes pieced together as one. “Each log was numbered and drawn out so we would know we each one belonged,” said Kay. It is a regular stop for four-wheelers traveling along the dirt road portion of Snake Route.

But Kay said enough was enough and it was time to stop. “I wanted to do something for me for a change,” she said. “I wanted my town to have this. I love downtown St. Marys. If I need something, chances are I can find it somewhere along Second Street.  Everyone downtown works together. For a little town to survive, everyone has to work together.”

Walking through Whippoorwill there is Christmas tree in the front window along with some antique chairs. Willis crawls up in one near the chair and makes himself comfortable in the sunlight. Old vinyl albums sit in boxes against the front wall. Willis snuggles down in the chair for a few moments before he bounces off and runs to meet a FedEx delivery person. Willis greets her and she responds with a smile and some pats on his head. She says she is new to the route and hasn’t made a delivery to the store before. She says she’ll be back to look through. Kay says the store’s merchandise basically sells itself.

Photo by Jeff Baughan A bricked up window has been put to use as a display for clothes and other items in the former Shouldis Department Store.

There was at one time two side windows. The windows were there but the exterior of the building had been bricked over. One can still read the bricks were made in Canton, Ohio by Belden Brick. The glass was removed and clothing and artwork rest in the window sills.

Against the back wall are hand made toys from different kinds of local woods. Across the store in a corner, is a chair with an easel with two pictures which will be part of Kay’s painting class, also known as her “paint and sip” class. The class is full.

“The ladies tell me it’s their ‘happy place,'” she said. “It’s their place to get away from everything for a little while. Splash a little paint, sip a little wine, talk some talk, relax. It’s a ‘happy place.'”