Cedar Springs Fiber Arts Center

This month marks five years since we originally launched the Cedar Springs Fiber Arts Center and Retreat project, and started the GoFundMe to help finance it.

We haven’t shared much lately because the news never seems good. Our general contractor quit last fall, after a year of slow to non-existent progress. This left us with a literal and figurative mess.

To complicate matters further, we can’t use the small amount of money remaining in our construction loan due to the bank’s restrictive policies on how we can access the funds. Frankly, the loan was never for enough money in the first place, since the value of the buildings were estimated as being dirt-floored pole-built farm sheds and barns, rather than a steel building woodshop and retail store.

So here we are, five years later, bootstrapping finances and coordinating what work we can from three hours away while the days continue to fly by.

But the only way out is through.

When we feel discouraged, we count our blessings and think of what has helped us get even this far: the patience of friends and family, and the support of the fiber arts community. Your faith in our dream keeps us going and reminds us why we’re still fighting to complete this project.

Where have we gotten in five years?

1. Most importantly, we secured the property for Cedar Springs, 74 acres of “wild and wonderful” near Kingwood, WV. We even have a street address, and a satellite image of the construction on Google Maps to remind us that the progress is real. The location is beautifully secluded, yet civilization is only a 10-minute drive away (August 2021).

2. Construction on the woodshop and store has at least started (May 2023). The store even features a new green metal roof, thanks to Titan Roofing. The existing plywood roof had endured the weather for so long, most of it needed to be replaced before it could support the weight of the metal. Thankfully Titan completed the work before winter snows settled in. The interior of the store is now protected against further damage from the elements.

Doors will be next to further protect the interior of the store.

3. Water, electric and septic have been set up, and just await a completed building to be turned on (January 2024). You can read more details about the utilities infrastructure in this post.

The next major step is to complete the woodshop enough to be usable. The steel building kit was delivered two years ago, and continues to languish with only a roof—no walls or siding. 

Our next major round of fundraising will focus on this specific objective. We can’t relocate to West Virginia until the woodshop is operational so Spanish Peacock experiences minimum downtime. Once we are in Kingwood full time, it will be easier to oversee additional construction. In addition to the GoFundMe, we are still selling engraved commemorative bricks to support the Messy Arts Pavilion, and we continue to research other fundraising / crowdsourcing avenues available to us.

We want to thank everyone who has helped us thus far. We understand that now, more than ever, uncertainty about the future weighs on everyone’s mind. If you can’t support fundraising, please consider following Cedar Springs on Facebook and Instagram, and spreading the word to other fibery friends who might be interested.