Kathy Boaz, first paint & sip, shows beautiful details on a fresco that she created at Wild Willy’s Pizza in Van Wert. She painted several American murals on the theme of pride at the restaurant and will soon lead events of public painting.
Craig Kelly | Lima news
Van Wert – Regarding art, the best work sometimes comes when you paint outside the lines.
Kathy Boaz, the owner of Encounterart with the first paint & SIP, had to “paint outside the lines” at more than one opportunity, with her painting festival company now in her 13th year. Between several relocations and reimaginations, Boaz was forced to show creativity to maintain his business.
“Yesterday, I was talking to a friend and I said:” I survived another winter “,” she said. “Winter is the most difficult to survive, but I have survived another winter. February is now over. Mars is almost finished, and I will be in April. ”
Many companies can be found in survival mode, especially in their first years. This was certainly the case for Rob Bowman when he opened the exit of 4 private escape rooms in 2022 on the Lima Road Cable.
“It was difficult,” said Bowman, remembering the start of the business. “It is a fairly conservative area, so many people did not understand the concept of being locked up where you just try to do a task. So I had to break a lot of stigma at first, really.”
The muse behind companies
For Bowman, who has a training in marketing and commercial development, bringing a place of entertainment of an escape room in Lima was logical because he thought it was important to provide new forms of entertainment to residents of the region who went beyond bars and other typical meeting places.
“I like to see everyone having fun, so I guess what I wanted was to give them something where they can smile and have fun,” he said.
Boaz has training in the arts, having gone to school to receive a diploma in fine arts. Her career then took a tour while she spent time directing a refuge of domestic violence and a fitness center. Its transition to art came thanks to an inspiration from a friend.
“I had a girl from the church who came and said to me,” Kat, you have to consult this new wine and canvas, “she said. “I said,” I don’t drink wine. I don’t even like wine. It gives me the head badly. She said, “No, it’s not about wine.
After visiting companies similar to Fort Wayne, Boaz was inspired to start a company similar to Lima, finally opening in a former banking building at 215 W. Market St., Lima.
The ups and downs
While Boaz’s time in downtown Lima was promising for the future of the first paint & SIP, a change of property in the building finally forced it to look for another house.
“Panic strikes, then (a lady of) the Lima shopping center contacts me,” she said. “She was like,” hey, would you be interested in an ephemeral shop at the shopping center? “”
This provided Boaz for a space to organize painting events on weekends, but insurance problems have forced it to give up the wine element, which led to a change of name to meetingart. Although it finally led to a full -time shop in the shopping center, it should not last either.
“Things move and then are comfortable,” she said. “I succeeded all year round, until December, then it was summed up where I had to choose what I could pay for.”
This led Boaz to be again without a business space, but she was able to maintain the business by taking the painting party to the customer rather than bringing the customer.
“(Monday) I was at the United Methodist Church in Cairo with 27 people,” she said. “I’m going to the churches, I’m going to my house, I’m going everywhere.”
Despite certain initial concerns concerning customer traffic, Bowman has seen his list of customers slowly start to grow, thanks mainly to word of mouth.
“At the beginning, it seems that I blew up a lot of budget on advertising and the staff that I may not have to have,” he said. “It was just over to settle certain things, you know, alive and learning, putting things on the right track.”
Over time, Bowman has benefited from customers such as schools bringing students for an excursion or families looking for a fun evening. What gave Bowman an advantage was the accent put on the service and the supply of a good customer experience.
“It is about this additional customer service,” he said. “I am proud of myself, when I see comments, one of the main things is that it is a clean store. These are small things on which I focus that can be a little invisible. ”
Plans for the future
While Boaz still offers mobile paint parties, she started finding a new house in all places, a pizza restaurant. The Pizza Wild Willy on Ervin Road in Van Wert recently developed in a neighboring window, leaving many walls open to murals to correspond to its theme of American pride.
“On Sunday, they finish at 2 years old, so I am busy doing murals,” she said, with current wall paintings, including a wave featuring the American flag and the eagles on the theme of stars and floors wearing slices of pizzas and pizzas. “And now we are going to start book on Tuesday evening and Sunday afternoon here (for painting events). This will be another great thing.”
With the exit 4 now on a more solid basis in Lima, Bowman seeks to develop on other markets, the first being Perrysburg. Bowman is currently working to secure a location in the suburbs of Toledo.
“I finally want to bring two of the (four) lima rooms up there so that I can update two new rooms in Lima,” he said. “Perrysburg will not know the difference. It will be brand new for them.”
To find out more about Boaz’s work with First Paint & SIP, go to his Facebook page to bit.ly/4jahl5q or on its website, bit.ly/41pegbx. For more information on output 4 or to book a room, go to bit.ly/4440gfr.
Celebrate our minds
The relentless workers in the region contribute to the economic health of the Lima region. In recent weeks, this series has examined the problems affecting the greatest employers in the region. This week’s story examines the arts, entertainment and leisure, which represent 0.8% of workers in the region.
Read more stories to Limaohio.com/tag/spirit.