A recent letter that warmed Peter's heart

Peter

Two years ago my husband, son and I opened a P. Graham Dunn boutique and laser center in Bell Buckle, TN. Mike Miller came and set us up . He was so wonderful and helpful for us. We have people come in our store now and ask us if we have a store in Gatlinburg then we explain our story. Their response is always, it is just like the store in Gatlinburg, very inviting, very relaxing and very inspirational. The store has grown so much in the last two years that we have expanded it all the way to the back of our shop. We also added a coffee shop in the back so people can sit down and enjoy your art work. It has been such blessing to have opened this store and to have been able to have people tell us how much this area needed a shop like this. It makes our hearts feel wonderful because we love your work so much.

We have never been able to come to the conferences until this year. We are also very excited about being able to finally meet you. We would love to take a few moments of your time to shake your hand and tell you what a blessing you and your work have been to us and our community. We will be coming in on Monday afternoon. If you have some time that would be convenient for you please let us know.

Looking forward to meeting you.

Debbie Sheetz
Designz By You/Coffeez By Us
Bell Buckle, TN

LeeAnn Miller & Personalized Gifts at P. Graham Dunn

The Wacky Cyclists

Believe it or not, there are three people that work here at the shop who have chosen to ride either unicycles or bicycles to work. The bicyclist (who also happens to be the company President) is an environmentalist who jokingly claims that due to the amount of oil needed to lubricate the chain on his bike, he has estimated that he gets over 200,000 miles per gallon on his bicycle. This rider also claims he’s going to ride to work all winter (which will be a first). He also has vowed to ride his age in miles on each birthday, and for the last two years he has done that. What combs everyone’s hair a little backwards is that he is not hesitant to remind everyone of his accomplishments. At the same time, if he ever misses riding his bike to work, there isn’t a person in the shop who doesn’t relish rubbing it in!

The unicyclists, however, really take the cake! They prefer to remain nameless, so we will simply refer to them as workers from the packaging department. They like to get to work at 5:00 a.m. to be ready for the rest of the crew that starts arriving shortly after. To do so, they leave their homes in Kidron (about six miles away) at 4:30 a.m. to get to work on time. They travel on the treacherous Zuercher Road with Schneck Hill on the West end that is so steep that when riding downhill on a bicycle, it is not unheard of to hit 45 miles per hour. On a unicycle, you have to work as hard going downhill as going uphill or you will loose control and end up flat on your backside! They take precaution by attaching bright LED lights to the brim of their baseball caps and a reflector on their backsides to keep from being run off the road by the early morning milk trucks.

This past summer, a brother of one of the unicyclists (who shares the same hobby) visited. To celebrate their reunion, the brothers chose to unicycle across Wayne County together, a 26-mile jaunt that took a little over six hours. We believe that was an historical first and it earned its way into a nice photojournalism article in the Wooster Daily Record newspaper. Do you have to be a little wacky to work at P. Graham Dunn? Not necessarily, but generally you fit in a little better if you are.

~Peter Dunn

Shop Christmas at P. Graham Dunn

Christmas Open House

November 12 & 13, 2009

We just wrapped up on of the most popular events we have ever held at P. Graham Dunn. Being that this was the first year for our Christmas Open House, we didn't know what to expect. In fact late in the week before the event there were few tickets reserved and some very nervous people at the store. We knew we had lined up a fun schedule of events, but if no one showed up it would be all for naught. Ticket reservations took off about 6 days before the first evening of the open house and we expected about 150 to 200 guests to arrive. When the doors did open, over 400 people attended! There were free snacks all through the store, with nearly a full meal provided by Broken Rocks Cafe of Wooster - Unbelievable! They decided that a tasting just wasn't enough. LeAnn Miller of Amish Country Living was the host for the evening and guided guests through cooking demonstrations by Coblentz Chocolates, Sally Lahmer, Trish Berg, and the Mariatha School. There were craft workshops by Cummings Floral, Thymbles, Pink Tomato, and P. Graham Dunn. All this and much more. Then, on Friday night we did it all over again and this time over 600 guests came out to attend. That's over 1000 people in 2 days. Now that we have an idea of the scope of this event, we will be turning it up a notch for 2010! Thank you to all who helped make those evenings so much fun.

Be sure to stop out the week of Thanksgiving for our big Christmas Sale on Wed, Fri, and Sat.

Christmas Open House

How many Christmas Trees?

If you had stopped in our Factory Store in Dalton, Ohio the last couple of weeks, you would have seen a busy group of people decorating for Christmas. When the dust settled and we were able to take stock of what was done, we were amazed to find 72 Christmas Trees had been placed throughout the store! The tallest tree required the use of heavy equipment simply to adorn it with decorations. There is no better time of year than when the whole world is reminded of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. 'Tis the season to celebrate!