MACOMB FARMER’S MARKET
Paint the Sky Blue
Stephanie Pflumm (rymes with 'plumb') and her companion of 35 years, moved to Macomb in 2021 at the end of Covid.
Memphis, Tennessee was becoming more and more expensive to live in during their retirement and they felt the need to find a place with a slower pace and a cheaper cost of living.
Much to my delight I was able to ask the next question-my very favorite question I ask interviewees-a question whose answers have fascinated me. I looked at Stephanie Pflumm and with baited breath asked the question. 'How, of all the places in the world, did you come to Macomb?'
Her answer captivated me. She said well, we googled something like 'inexpensive housing'. And what came up-a house for rent on West Jefferson Street in Macomb. So, she said, we moved there. I was captivated.
I have to tell you, this intrigues me. Stephanie Pflumm and her companion are absolutely thrilled with Macomb. Not wanting to buy at their state in life, they found the rent here to be substantially lower than Memphis.
Stephanie beams when she describes their entrance into the city on one of their early trips. As they came into town on 136, looking straight ahead down the highway she saw our huge, picturesque courthouse looming against the west horizon. She said a chill went through her, that they were moving to a city that had such a beautiful building in the center of town. (Something I certainly take for granted).
Stephanie Pflumm is an artist. She is a first year new vendor at the Macomb Farmer's Market, selling her acrylic paintings done on canvas and wood. She loves doing landscapes, and in most of her paintings she paints the sky in vibrant blues, thus the name she came up with for her studio-' Paint the Sky Blue'.
Her past life involved managing radio stations in Missouri, selling rocks online (geodes etc.) and even working retail at a mattress store.
Most of us who were born and raised around Macomb tend to see it sometimes as lackluster. Not Stephanie Pflumm.
Stephanie literally gushes with positivity about her new adopted home, Macomb. She raves about our Downtown Square and its nostalgia. She loves our Carnegie Library (that many of us take for granted).
Pflumm is extremely interested in the fact that Macomb has a hospital-she states that it is very rare for rural areas to have a hospital locally where they came from.
She emphasizes that Illinois, in her opinion, is a very senior friendly state, that there are many senior benefits here that she did not have in Tennessee. She was overjoyed when some kind person assisted her in getting her license plate sticker for $10.
Stephanie became an artist at a young age when she designed Easter baskets at the age of 8 or 9. Her home on West Jefferson is a two-story with a SE corner room that she has converted into her studio.
Her children visit Macomb once in a great while, as they (fraternal twins) live 400 and 600 miles away from Macomb. Stephanie has grandchildren, who's birthdays may interfere with one or two Farmer's Markets.
The WIU art classes for seniors is something she plans on investigating. After our interview I showed Stephanie all of the local artwork displayed at the Community News Brief and Market. She hopes to possibly bring some of her paintings there eventually to sell on consignment.
For someone who basically picked Macomb to live in like it was a game of 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey', Stephanie Pflumm is thrilled to death to be living here.
Look for her booth and her beautiful landscape paintings at Farmer's Market. Stephanie will be glad to remind us about what a charming community we have here and tend to take for granted.
'Paint the Sky Blue' has a Facebook page by that name and anyone interested in her work can message her through Facebook Messenger.
