Susan Dixon Leading Fox (middle) cuts the ribbon at the grand opening celebration of Buttermilk Farms Antique & Auction in Bryson City on April 12. (BROOKLYN BROWN/One Feather photos)
By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
BRYSON CITY, N.C. – On the morning of Friday, April 12, Buttermilk Farms Antiques & Auction, owned by Susan Dixon Leading Fox, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), held a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening celebration for their new location in the Valley Village Shopping Center of Bryson City, N.C. The antique store also celebrates their 9th anniversary in business, and their one-year anniversary as an auction.
“This is our open house. We were hoping to have a grand opening last year when we moved to this location, which is our new location, but there was so much work to be done in here that we never got around to the grand opening,” Leading Fox said. The store moved from Main Street of Bryson City to the Valley Village Shopping Center, and the business made some new additions as well, including opening an auction.
Buttermilk Farms Antiques & Auction boasts 13 dealer booths at their new location.
“March was our ninth anniversary. It’s also the one-year anniversary that we started the auction. That’s one of the reasons I moved. I was downtown for seven years on Main Street and we were busting at the seams with nowhere to expand and start the auction,” she said.
Auctions are held on the first and third Saturday of every month starting at 4pm. The store itself is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We had like six dealers, and now we have 13 dealer booths. We also added the walk-in humidor where we sell cigars, which is fabulous. We added mercantile, which is new, and we’re trying to find more locally sourced foods that we can sell. We also got a honey person, so we’re going to start carrying honey,” Leading Fox said.
The shop also holds a unique collection of Cherokee baskets, pottery, and wood carvings. “We have a lot of enrolled members that come down here and shop and support us. We carry some nice baskets, carvings on occasion, pottery when we can find it, and things like that,” she said.
“Everybody needs to come down and check it out.”
