Getting Mugged in a Living Ghost Town
Elk Falls, Kansas
Less than two hours southeast of Wichita, Kansas, and surrounded by thousands of acres of pasture and ranch lands, Elk Falls – population 120 – could have fallen off the map and become a ghost town. But it didn’t — thanks, in part, to Elk Falls Pottery Works and the hospitality enterprise of Steve and Jane Fry, along with the community’s picturesque waterfall (rare for Kansas) and an historic 1893 Iron Truss Bridge. Since 1976, Steve and Jane have mastered their stoneware craft and expanded their activities to include the Sherman House Bed & Breakfast nestled in a magnificently restored 19th Century railway eating house.
“We discovered Elk Falls from a classified ad placed in Mother Earth News by Elk Falls resident Marjorie Cunningham in 1973,” smiles Steve in his soft-spoken, gentle manner. Both he and his wife, Jane, attended Hesston College north of Wichita after meeting in high school. It’s at Hesston that Steve started working in clay. After marrying, the couple worked with several other potters in Georgia before deciding to return to their native Kansas. “Marjorie helped us find our present studio building, which we actually bought, sight unseen.” They later added a pottery studio.
Of the back-to-the-land ilk, Jane and Steve set out to start their rural business and life as self-reliantly as possible, with gardens, goats and gumption. With limited funds – yet unwilling to take on any debt – they built their own kiln to fire their pottery and set out to market their work on the circuit of craft fairs, art shows and festivals in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Colorado.
“We were willing to wait for ‘success,’” says Steve, who admits success for them has never been based on the size of their bank account. “Elk Falls is not an easy place to make a living. We realized we needed to bring our own income-producing ability and develop markets for our stoneware beyond the immediate area.” From hand-crafted stoneware mugs and vases to a diverse selection of custom-ordered pottery items, Jane and Steve hoped Elk Falls Pottery Works would meet their financial needs. “I discovered pottery let me do something I love to do, and actually get paid for it,” adds Steve.
About their money mainstay – their mugs – Elk Falls Pottery Works devised a business model that focuses on functional kitchenware. The Frys embraced two areas many potters traditionally avoid – mugs and special orders – establishing a loyal customer base over time. About 50 percent of their sales result from custom or special orders, which are also a source for new product ideas.
“We also wanted to make something our neighbors could buy,” admits Jane about how the locals have come to appreciate the hand-made items turned out, one-at-a-time. “We offer lots of affordable choices for people. Our mugs connect with people who yearn for something that’s hand-crafted and unique. There’s always a market for handmade things.”
Made from raw clays hand-dug in several local and more distant locations and mixed together using years of experience in blending just the right proportions, Elk Falls Pottery Works’ pieces exhibit the true of-the-earth qualities that result in a durable and distinctive pottery piece. “We’re the only potters who use this particular deposit of clay,” explains Steve. When fired at 2,300-degrees Fahrenheit, the iron granules in the clay and firing technique results in a distinctive grey-speckled appearance.
During their early years touring art shows and fairs, Jane and Steve hit a clay-based goldmine: the Walnut Valley Festival, in Winfield, Kansas, held every September. The festival is a musical gathering of the best musicians in the country. Since 1981, Elk Falls Pottery Works create the commemorative mugs that hundreds upon hundreds of bluegrass, flat-picking, and banjo music enthusiasts line up for every year. Before it’s over, two mug series, five hundred of each, are sold to eager attendees. “For one time of the year, we feel really special,” confides Jane. “The festival is our main financial harvest, too, and we work steady for three to four months in preparation for the event.”
By the late 1980s, Elk Falls Pottery Works’ growing customer base and success with the Walnut Valley Festival allowed Steve and Jane to spend more time in the studio and less time on the road at art shows. “Enough people started coming to us that we didn’t need to go to shows as often,” admits Jane. “It was not something we had expected.” As a result, a small pottery shop was added to the studio for travelers and locals to browse and buy.
From the start, their pottery business was a collaborative effort, with Steve and Jane staking out their creative talent and mark. Steve does the digging and mixing of the clay, throwing, brush work, firing, mixing of glazes and carpentry or maintenance for the buildings. Jane manages the trimming, design and stamping, applying the glazes, loading and unloading the kiln, and packing for the art fairs. Watching the two at work is like witnessing the industrious elves in the fairytale The Elves and the Shoemaker. You never know who is doing what step, when. But they do, resulting in distinctive pieces.
Sensing an interest in travelers looking to escape to a “living ghost town,” as Elk Falls came to be called – along with the equally humorous self-proclaimed “Outhouse Capital of Kansas” – Jane and Steve transformed an 1879 railway eating house first, into a restaurant, then in 1995, reopened it as the Sherman House Bed & Breakfast. The hardwood floors in the dining room and relaxing sitting room are topped off with two cozy bedrooms on the second floor. The Bunkhouse Room features a kid-sized teepee and “tack room” for the young cowgirls and boys. Jane’s sumptuous full breakfasts the next morning have attracted travelers yearning to slow down and savor every bite. After breakfast, guests can stroll around town and watch three white bunnies hopping around next to the town hall building – ignored by the sleeping dogs. Today, the bed & breakfast generates about $5,000 annually while the pottery business makes up the balance of the $45,000 a year business.
Elk Falls Pottery Works, along with the local tourism promotion group, Friends of Elk Falls Association, have grown their annual Elk Falls Annual Open House into a communitywide event held during the weekend before Thanksgiving. Outhouses can be toured, an arts and craft fair is hosted in the community house, and the City of Elk Falls runs a concession stand to help pay for the all-volunteer fire department.
When asked if they could make a living on their pottery and bed & breakfast, Jane replies: “That depends on your definition of ‘a living.’ We saw the possibilities of being our own boss when we were young, with our self-employed parents. It was natural to us.” Their livelihood allowed Steve and Jane to raise and homeschool their two kids, Zach and Cherry, into adulthood. Not surprisingly, their kids developed numerous ventures of their own. Zach’s unique “woven clay” basket and photography can be found in Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius’ office.
Sales of their pottery now fund their next dream project, restoring an estate along highway 160 on the edge of town with unique concrete and stone garden sculptures as well as moving and expanding their pottery studio to a larger space in a converted barn – making it even easier to get mugged in this living ghost town.