Cherokee Main Street holds ribbon cutting for LynnMarie Cottage

On May 26, Cherokee Main Street hosted a ribbon cutting for the official opening of LynnMarie Cottage located on 7th street in Cherokee.

Inside the Cottage are three separate businesses, they are Canyon Crafts, Salt Plains Sass and Pretty Addiction Art.

The Cottage and Canyon Crafts are owned and operated by Sammi Kildow.

Kildow started in the self-owned business sector after the loss of her seven year career in the gas industry due to covid in November 2020.

Kildow had also done crafting, photography and graphic designing as a hobby. After some encouragement, she decided to go for it and do it full time.

After she took time for grieving, it was time to get her life in order and get serious about this. She has two young daughters, Alissa, 10, and Leighton, 3, this would allow her to be able to be at any events, spend time with them, and enjoy being a busy mom.

So after some support and guidance from her wonderful boyfriend Sterling, they decided to make this happen.

The location at 520 East 7th Street was her former home and then became a rent house. After a year of renting out the home and realizing it was not working out well, she decided to turn her house into a business. She started remodeling at the beginning of March 2021. She finished the remodel first week of May 2021. During the remodel, she had to do some major updates, such as new ceiling, complete bathroom remodel and new floors.

“My business comes with a lot of creativity. I not only do woodworking home décor crafts, but I also do photography and graphic designing, such as logos, business cards, flyers, etc. I can revamp about any floral arrangement someone has had for many years, to repainting an old sign, to designing a simple sign. Everything I do is custom made and most of the time nothing is ever the same,” Kildow said.

When asked what her favorite part of the job is, Kildow said, “I absolutely love being able to use my creativeness and give to my customers something they won’t see anywhere else. I am looking forward to providing the community with personalized items or a last minute gift.  I am very picky on my stuff and if I do not like it, it won’t leave my shop until it’s perfect.”

Canyon Crafts is open 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.

Salt Plains Sass is owned and operated by Hailey Cudmore.

Cudmore contacted Kildow after she was notified she would not be returning as the Librarian at Cherokee Elementary due to budget cuts. She has operated Salt Plains Sass for three years and decided to go full time with it. This will also allow her time to be with her family, raise her kids.

Cudmore is open by appointment; selling clothing, shoes and accessories.

Pretty Addiction Art is owned by Cindy Hoffmann, Edmond. Hoffmann is an aunt to Kildow and will have her resin and watercolor artwork on display and for sale at the Cottage.

Kildow and Cudmore are looking forward to this new adventure and give the town something different.