ARTISANAL CRAFTS CREATE NEW ECONOMIES IN A SMALL MIDWESTERN COMMUNITY.
They came from Guatemala six years ago and have quietly filled the neighborhoods of this small town.
They sought out this community because of a need for manual labor in the meat processing markets of the midwest.
Worthington is a town that has numerous small starter homes because it has always been a town of immigrants.
First the Germans, then the Irish, then the Dutch, and now sixty four different languages are spoken at the local high school.
In the past they were considered the new minorities, when in fact they are now the new majority.
A town that had only recently wondered about its aging population and was worried about the out migration of its youth.
Today town of Worthington Minnesota (12,000) has babies, toddlers, teenagers in abundance. New schools are being busily built to accommodate our new comers.
They have become established enough that some are trying their hand at being the new merchant class on main street.
Some try, some fail, many achieve more than modest success. I admire them more , not less, all for having attempted the rigors of understanding business in the U.S.
Some Big Box Stores try to replicate the “world market” concepts in style, cuisine, clothing & furnishings.
All the while Ma and Pa (madre & Padre) stores sprout up renting storefronts in this community.
They become small importers, merchants and citizens of this community and they are creating a real “world market” right in front of our eyes.
I’m a small time merchant and manufacturer of nearly fifty years.
I welcome this new wave of entrepreneurial spirit by local immigrants that are importing exceedingly high quality woven and loom spun fabrics from their native countries.
Celia, Priscilla, Kevin and other family members have become familiar with importing and their fabrics caught my eye as I was walking past their store front.
I decided to stick my head in the door and introduce myself.
My intent was not only to build some new relationships but I also wanted an excuse to understand this stunningly beautiful fabric and its origin and relationship to my new found friends.
HOW IS IT MADE?
IS IT MADE MECHANICALLY OR BY THE HAND OF MAN?
WHAT IS THE PRICE RANGE?
DOES CERTAIN FABRIC HAVE ANY SYMBOLISM?
DO WOMEN OF GUATEMALA HAVE NUMEROUS FABRICS?
Fabric sizes? 3 X 8
Celia has a small but quality sewing machine and she augments the three by eight foot bolts of fabric with additional trim and embroidery.
When finished it creates the dress of a well kept beautiful Guatemalan women, some of the many women that grace this community.
These fabrics create a large part of her inventory and range from a few hundred dollars too much more.
They are most often worn as skirts by native Guatemalan women.
I get a close up of the fabric, I squint and marvel at every stitch.
The fabric is as intricate as any Persian silk, it is woven with shimmering threads and metallic accent thread.
Celia and her family are not strangers to the process, they are not strangers to the weavers. They know many of them personally.
You needn’t travel six thousand.miles to see this as a tourist, you can see this in person, you can drop by their store and witness the weaving craftsmanship of the artisanal weavers of Guatemala.
The welcoming smiles of Celia and her family sell their products to a burgeoning group of Guatemalans within my community.
They have added to the anthropologic & cultural laboratory that I call Worthington.
They are one of the many merchants that have come to add an amazing flourish to this diverse community.
Our Eritrean women arrive in this community often times clad in colorful hand embroidered white cotton linen fabrics.
A year goes by and I lament that I see some of them again fully acclimated to the U.S. casual couture of torn denim blue jeans.
The Guatemalan women seem less compelled to blend in and visibly share a pride in their indigenous garments.
These many immigrants fill our churches and Buddhist Temples, they create and help maintain a viable tax base within the community by renting store fronts and homes.
Once established they are buying new vehicles, homes and even motorboats to be used on our lake, hard working and industrious.
A diaspora occurring in some far flung land benefits my community in ways countless ways.
A community of People that have fled untold fears and misery have ended up providing salvation to a small community on the prairies of the Great Plains.
