Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Tuscaloosa and Northport!
Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Bethany's Passion for Pottery Revived: Still Fired Up's Creative and Therapeutic Journey
Bethany's childhood dreams have taken shape in the form of a vibrant pottery studio, a testament to her enduring passion for ceramics. After founding All Fired Up with her sister in Tuscaloosa, their studio blossomed into a beloved family project that brought them closer as adults and served the community as more than just a business. Although they eventually stepped away to prioritize their growing families, Bethany's love for pottery has reignited with the opening of Still Fired Up in Essex Square. We explore how this welcoming space not only nurtures creativity but also offers a therapeutic escape, allowing people to craft cherished memories.
Feeling festive? We introduce a whimsical idea perfect for the holidays: a gnome painting party! Picture an evening filled with laughter, creativity, and the camaraderie of friends gathered around to celebrate Christmas with a splash of paint. Bethany joins us to share her insights and experiences, enriching our discussion with her warmth and expertise. And, as always, we invite our listeners to join in the fun by nominating their favorite local businesses for a spotlight on the Good Neighbor Podcast, Northport. Tune in for a heartwarming episode that celebrates the spirit of community, creativity, and festive fun!
#GNPBirmingham #StillFiredUp #PotteryStudio #Ceramics #CreativeEscape #ArtTherapy #FamilyBusiness #PotteryLove #HolidayFun #GnomePainting #FestiveCrafts #NorthportAL #EssexSquare #CommunitySpirit #LocalArt #WomenInBusiness #CraftingMemories #HandmadeWithLove #CreativeCommunity #GoodNeighborPodcast #NorthportCreatives #CeramicArt #ArtStudio #HolidayCelebration #SupportLocalArtists
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:In Northport, bethany. How are you today?
Speaker 3:Good, how are you?
Speaker 2:Great, Thank you. So it's called Still Fired Up, but there's a story behind that. Tell us a little bit about Still Fired Up and how it came into being.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, actually it started with my sister. Well, actually it started with my sister. She had this idea of a paint-grown pottery studio and she was the original owner of All Fired Up. And when she opened it she said please, please, please, would you think about moving to Tuscaloosa and running this pottery store with me? And I thought about it and at the time it was just me and my husband and we were looking for places to settle down and we said, all right, let's try Tuscaloosa, let's just see what it's like. And from the day we started at the pottery store, when I went for the first time and worked my first day with her, it was like a dream come true.
Speaker 3:My sister and I have always been close. We always played store together, we did a lot of things that it was like it was a come to life dream for us and we put our heart and soul into everything all fired up. So we're just blessed and happy that we have that chapter together. As an adult, we had our childhood together and then you know, you kind of have chapters where you don't see each other very often, and then it was like a new chapter began and we got to learn each other as adults, and so that was really cool, um, but it's a paint your own pottery studio where you just come in and you paint. But it's way deeper than than just that for us. It's, it's a ministry for us. So, um, after a while, um, I had two children and she also had another child at that time and it was just getting to be a little too much and, um, we thought we'd focus on our families. So we did sell the business and I know that that business closed after a while. I know, after covid, that really um hurt a lot of businesses.
Speaker 3:But now, years later, I've been begging my husband for a kiln and things just kept falling through the cracks. I didn't really have a place to put it. And then I thought, well, you know, it'd be kind of not not that fun if I wasn't sharing it with other people, because it was the people that got me excited about pottery and painting. And so I thought, well, maybe this is the time we reopen and open it back up, because I had people come up to me and say are you going to reopen that store? Are you going to reopen?
Speaker 3:And I was like, in my heart I had always hoped to reopen the store. But I don't want to make promises to people I couldn't keep. So I said, well, maybe, who knows, and it was just God's timing and it happened real fast. So we just looked around for a place to rent and we got a great landlord and he was able to to help us with finding a location which I couldn't have picked any better because, as you know, the location is just nicely hidden in a corner but yet very visible if you're in certain places in that area. So it's good, it's a good little.
Speaker 2:It's right in between. It's right by a chicken salad chicken, chicken salad chick. And behind El Gran Patron, that Mexican food restaurant, on on on the far one, a great date night, you know?
Speaker 3:Yeah, what's?
Speaker 2:the name of that shopping center. Yeah, what's the name of that shopping center?
Speaker 3:Essex Square.
Speaker 2:Essex Square. That's right and what I love about and I've been to all fired up, I haven't been to still fired up, but all fired up was all about making memories Right, bringing your friends in or having a date night, or your kids, and then what you came away with was something that you, that you kept forever, you know, and I'm now where my kids are gone and so I, I will bring things out and enjoy the nostalgia of that moment. So really it's to me, it's less about paint and slip pottery.
Speaker 3:So I and I thought about about that there's. Everybody I know has some piece of ceramic, whether you made it in kindergarten or it was grandma's that got passed down to you. Everybody has that special something from pottery or ceramic and it's just really neat to hear the stories because it is, it was all part of the experience or that chapter of your life that you were in and it is. It holds a lot of memories. All those pieces that you might have you can reflect back on and we hope the story is like that a place to bond with your friends or your family and just to relax. It's a good therapy as well.
Speaker 2:It's a memory studio. I really, really love it. I'm so glad your back is still fired up. You left a big hole in the community when you had to take that break, but I'm so glad you're back. So tell me, what do you do? Seems like a strange take that break, but I'm so glad you're back. So tell me, what do you do? Seems like a strange thing to ask, but because you do fun for a living but what do you do for fun when you're not in the store?
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, I'm usually at the store, but my family spending time with my family, my family spending time with my family. My parents just recently moved up from Florida so they get to experience all of this too, and it helps with as well as the two kids. It's just nice to be together as a family. We try and do things together, even if it's just having dinner, watching a movie together. That's just kind of our downtime. We like to spend a lot of time outside, whether it's walking Riverwalk or just being outside. So I know that sounds pretty simple, but that's the way we like to keep it.
Speaker 2:It's the simple things that are the best right.
Speaker 3:Definitely. It just keeps your mind clear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it doesn't have to be complicated it just has to be what you love.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:Bethany, there's always another side of life too. That's not so fun. Where you hit, you know, a barrier or an obstacle and maybe you've got to climb over it and you find on the other side that that effort has made you kind of different or redirected your path. Has there been something like that that's happened with you?
Speaker 3:I guess just the everyday juggling of trying to keep things organized at the same time on schedule. But you know, with family and kids it never goes the way you plan goes the way you plan. But I think that's the hardest thing is just trying to leave store at store. When I come home I can be with family. You know there's that I've had in the past. My sister's not here now, but I'm glad we had that time together.
Speaker 3:It was a very hard obstacle for me to get over, but she had a stroke a few years after we sold it and she now resides in Florida. But that was a hard thing for me to get over. Um, I have a lot of guilt that I'm here with the store and she is not with me. But, um, I know her heart and she's. She is here with us and doing the things and I I, you know try and keep her involved with what we're doing. But she gets all the praise for that and it makes me sad that she's not here to experience it. But, like I said, when she comes up to visit we'll take her into the store and she gets to paint as well as she can, the things that she wants. So that brings joy to me, that she's able to come back and do something without all the hard work behind it.
Speaker 2:So bethany, what would you like our listeners to take away about? Still fired up pottery I.
Speaker 3:We just want to invite everybody kids, older people, everybody of all ages. It's not just for one particular age and it's just the experience. Yes, you walk away with pottery and something you can use forever, but I want it to be a time where you can come in and relax, because I think the world can be a very stressful place, especially right now with things going on that people don't take a few minutes to just reconnect with yourself, get creative. There's a lot of fun taken out of things nowadays that I want people to be able to come in, have fun, see something and take the stress off. It's not going to be perfect, but I want it to be something that you create yourself, no matter what it looks like when it's glazed and fired. It looks store bought anyways, and I try and tell everybody that even the ones that let their kids just paint crazy colors on things it's going to look great at the end. So play is how we learn.
Speaker 3:Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:And play continues to be really important to us as we get older, even until the moment of our death. We learn by playing, and playing also brings us into the present moment, and isn't that the most important thing that we are able to shed? Absolutely everything away and be in this moment, the only real time that there is. Yes, and we can do that, we can do that still fired up.
Speaker 3:That's right. Yep, the fast pace of life. You just come in and slow down. We try and play nice quiet, calming music and just you're surrounded by bright, happy colors. So hopefully your spirits get lifted just by walking in the store.
Speaker 2:Well, I think people's spirits are just going to be lifted by being with you. Bethany, how can our listeners find Still Fired Up? Let's get a location and some contact information.
Speaker 3:Yes, we're located at 80 McFarland Boulevard, again in Essex Square. We're suite five. So if you know where Chicken Salad Chick is in Northport, you can't miss us. You would be right there and we are very close to that so you could just look out their window and see us. So we are, let's see, close to where Watermelon Road and McFarland Boulevard kind of intersect.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's adjacent to where the new Aldi is going in the old Winn-Dixie and now the new Aldi, yes, so that should bring some extra traffic to you too.
Speaker 3:We are excited. If we run out of paper towels, we can just run the Aldi. It'll be very convenient.
Speaker 2:All right, bethany, while I have in my plans, I'm going to be bringing some girlfriends over. We're going to spend a night. They don't know it yet they don't know, but we're going to spend an evening painting gnomes because it's going to be the Christmas season, so, and I'm looking forward to it, and I'm sure our listeners would really enjoy doing the same thing. So, bethany, it's been great getting to know you, and thank you for sitting down with us and sharing.
Speaker 3:It's a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast, Northport. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, Northport. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpnorthportcom. That's gnpnorthportcom, or call 205-809-4910. You.