On a Tuesday, Charlie and Diane DeMay were busy at the couple’s gift shop, the Prairie Chicken Haus, located just outside of Kewanee on Highway 78. Charlie was at work in the commercial kitchen, cooking up tomatoes. It’s a place where he finds himself quite frequently. Charlie acts as both gardener and cook for the operation.
“I do all of the gardening, canning. If I’m not in the garden, I’m in here, “ said Charlie.
There’s quite a bit of preparation that goes on during the week and Charlie admits it’s a lot of work. The shop is open just two days a week, on Fridays and Saturdays, and during the busy holiday season on Sundays. But for the rest of the week, there is baking and canning duties for the couple.
For about five or six years, before they opened their brick and mortar store, they were known as C. DeMay Canning Co., and sold their well-known salsas and other canned goods at vendor shows, farmers markets, church bazaars and flea markets. But the weekend traveling and hauling of their inventory, the constant putting up and tearing it down, began to wear on them and the pull towards a brick and mortar shop began in earnest.
When a piece of property and a small house located next to their own nine acres became available, they took a chance on it and purchased it, determined to put down roots and provide a home not only for their canning company, but for a planned gift shop as well.
“We wanted to have a little something for everyone,” said Diane.
It took some time to completely gut and remake the house into a shop. Adding a commercial kitchen where Charlie could can his salsas, vegetables, and other products was a priority.
The evolution of their journey to open their gift shop took a few twists and turns and both of them admit that evolution isn’t quite done.
Diane and Charlie DeMay have been entrenched in their community. Both were born and raised in Kewanee and Diane spent over two decades with State Bank of Toulon as a mortgage lender and before that in financing. She was involved with the Kewanee Chamber of Commerce as an ambassador and served on the Chamber board. She was also board president for the Kewanee Area United Way for several years and she’s proud of her involvement from the very start of the Prairie Chicken Arts Festival and the Wall Dogs murals. She also played a key role in the establishing the area farmer’s market organization and spent 12 years with that group. She currently serves on the school board.
Charlie has spent most of his career in the food service industry, working only a short time as an officer with the Illinois Department of Corrections before transferring over to the kitchen there. But many people would recognize him from his earlier days working for Al Hill at the old Happy Joe’s. He would later manage the pizza parlor.
But it was when he was working in the kitchen for the IDOC that Charlie was able to hone his salsa recipe that has gotten him quite a following. Charlie not only cans his salsa, but he grows all of the tomatoes and peppers that go into it. It took time for him, he said, to tweak the ingredients, to get the flavor just right. After serving the salsa to his friends and family, people began to suggest he bottle the product, and that’s how his canning company got its start.
He cans other items from his garden such as green beans, and makes pickles, jellies and jams.
Their gift shop offers plenty of food items. In addition to canned goods, the shop offers customers fresh ground horseradish, pepper sauces, ground herbs and baked goods, such as cookies and yeast breads. And because the DeMays wanted to make sure to appeal to a broader customer base, they added items that they have found such as antiques and primitive pieces. But they do have a philosophy to what they sell.
“The concept is that everything we sell is eco-friendly, all natural and holistic,” said Diane. “We want it all to be good for you.”
They also like to offer assistance to other local businesses, and in the corner of the shop is a display from the local coffee merchants, Country Morning Coffee.
“We try to keep most of it local,” said Charlie.
On another wall is an assortment of locally owned and produced goat milk lotion and soaps. Charlie, who collects LPs, has recently started selling them and the addition has brought in a younger crowd, he said.
Supporting other small business owners is a goal and all of the items they sell, they insist on being handcrafted and made in the US or a fair trade item.
“If it’s in our shop, it needs to be made around here and from other small businesses,” said Diane.
She recently purchased a candle company and now makes her own candles under the label of the Prairie Chicken Candle Co. The products, she said, are eco-friendly with eco-friendly wicks.
Also for sale is local honey and farm fresh eggs, ensuring that the shop really does have something for everyone.
Of course it’s no surprise that their best selling item by far is still their salsas that keep customers coming back for more, and like any business, the plan for the shop is always changing and growing with the eye towards the future.
What that plan looks like currently, Charlie said, is a gourmet food store. The couple is already planning to add a line of tea to compliment their coffee selection and they hope to add some dip mixes as well.
“It’s evolving,” said Charlie, and Diane agrees, adding that it’s kind of seeing what customers like and then providing it to them.
Diane said that one customer compared their shop to one that might be found in a quaint tourist town such as Galena, only this shop is one “that’s right in our own backyard.” For Diane, that was nice to hear.
The couple mainly rely on word of mouth to get out the news about their shop, but they do have several thousand Facebook followers and post frequently. They have regular customers, they said, that travel from as far as Chicago to come to their shop and in the summertime, they get quite a few campers from Johnson Park.
The shop hours are Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are open on Sundays from October through December.
The DeMays are gearing up for the summer season and said they are grateful to their customers who have ventured out past the edge of town to support them.
“We’ve had really good support from the community,” said Diane.
