LITTLE MOUNTAIN — PoDunk Holler, a new art hangout spot in Little Mountain, opened Saturday with 25 art and antique vendors on site for customers to browse.
Greg and Kimber Lowrey are the owners, and the business, located at 1378 Main St. in Little Mountain, got started thanks to Greg Lowrey’s art.
“PoDunk Holler was originally done for my husband. We were originally looking for a spot, and Doug and Karen were glad to tell us they had this wonderful building and that is where it sort of evolved from,” said Kimber Lowrey. “This building has been 9,000 different things, from what I have been told, all the way from a poker parlor to a gas station to a liquor store.”
Everything in the store is reclaimed, re-purposed, upcycled, reused or dumpster dived — and that is the basis of PoDunk Holler, according to Lowrey. Each of the 25 vendors offers a different type of art or antique style.
“We have artisans all the way from Great Falls to Columbia. A lot of our artisans here are local. They do shows at Soda City, so we have picked really good art from there. Then we just got some antique dealers that came in, sweet and wonderful people,” Lowrey said. “We sort of became a family, and we are a PoDunk family.”
Vendors include an artisan who makes wooden bowls and another who kilns glass and makes plants and flowers. In fact, she will be featured in the New York Botanical Gardens in the spring, after they purchased some of her flowers.
“Every piece is so unique and so different. We have artists here like 3 Crow, who has amazing stuff, and we have C2 Creations. He uses a lot of pallet woods and they do some beautiful sayings on it, glass bottle works, metal works you see outside,” Lowrey said. “Because we are on antique row here, we kind of blend. We have got to offer something for everyone.”
Vendors rent a booth each month, and the Lowreys sell their pieces. Vendors are paid at the end of the month.
Greg Lowrey has a section of the store called PoDunk Holler which feature art by him. It’s also where the name of the business is derived.
“We are originally from Mississippi and if somebody asked if you live out in the country, you would say I live in Podunk, an off the beaten path area,” Kimber Lowrey said. “The dictionary states it a little bit different, but we like to say have a podunk day. You can make podunk anyway you want it. You can get podunked, you can have a podunk day, it is time to get podunked.”
Each of Greg Lowrey’s pieces have actual relics denoting the piece.
For example, his favorite piece is Devil’s Rope — what barbed wire was called when it was first invented. He has the first patented barbed wire in the United States wrapped around a cow skull.
“What inspires me, every tree in the forest, every rock on the ground, God. Honestly it is nature, combined with antiques, with history,” he said.
PoDunk Holler also will have a coffee bar and as they progress they will have a full pastry bar. They also have free wi-fi, tables and chairs and a bar where people can sit and bring their laptops. In the spring they will add tables outside.
PoDunk Holler will have four vendor spaces available as soon as they are built. Contact the Lowreys at 803-816-4196 if interested in becoming a vendor or for more information about the business.
