Dresden & Company is putting an emphasis on “WELCOME” and “community” with its newly dedicated Welcome Center on Main Street in the village where baskets have been woven for more than 100 years.
As dignitaries and visitors discovered during a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week, the welcome center is a place where tourists can get a jumpstart on a shopping adventure, where meetings, parties and fundraisers can be held, and where the D&Co. team works to keep the young company building on its future on the village’s Main Street and across the country.
The Dresden & Company Welcome Center is located at 416 Main Street in a building that has been home over the years to an automotive business, a restaurant, an auction house and now the D&Co. team.
Inside the center, the D&Co. Journal and monthly flyers spring to life, allowing visitors to not only envision how the items will look in their homes but to purchase some of the products that are on hand. D&Co. Proprietors from across the country can bring their customers to the center for shopping excursions that include scheduled visits with weavers and the opportunity to weave a basket.
As visitors shop in town, portions of the proceeds of the sale of the Dresden Basket, available in a number of the stores, goes for repairs for the World’s Largest Picnic Basket, which sits across the street.
A couple of blocks away, people can stop to watch the weavers hard at work doing what they love, creating new designs and old favorites.
City leaders noted that D&Co., which began in 2019, is the second-largest employer in the village of 1,400 residents.
Company Founder and CEO Jim Lepi told the crowd that the employees, the community and customers were the three priorities for D&Co. when it began. While the welcome center space is newly refurbished and D&Co. has only been in here for a few months, Lepi has a larger vision for the company and the community. “We hope to grow out of this space pretty quick,” he told the crowd of about 80 people who attended the ceremony hosted by the Zanesville-Muskingum County Chamber of Commerce.
“Spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission — can’t be stopped, won’t be stopped,” Ohio state Rep. Adam Holmes said, telling the crowd he is looking to a bright future for everybody with the Dresden & Company business.
Come see what is happening in Dresden. Hold a weaver’s creation in your hands and decide where it belongs in your home.
The Dresden & Company Welcome Center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information or to plan an event, please email [email protected].
Please click on the links below to hear remarks of our featured speakers and view videos of the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.
Zanesville-Muskingum County Chamber of Commerce President Dana Matz
Ohio State Representative Adam Holmes
Village of Dresden Mayor Greg Morrison