Thousands expected to make John Deere-themed Longaberger baskets

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By Kay Luna | Friday, May 16, 2008 7:02 AM CDT | () comments

Ron Keplin of Ripon, Wis., works on weaving a basket at one of the “Make A Basket” work stations at the John Deere Commons in downtown Moline Thursday. (Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

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They clutched Longaberger basket-themed purses and wore basket-style clothing.

Some wore John Deere green and yellow, with cameras dangling from their necks.

And they came from far and wide, driving hours from home — some as far away as Minnesota and Tennessee — for this big event: The Longaberger Basket Festival 2008, running through Sunday at the John Deere Commons in downtown Moline.

The chance to collect an exclusive John Deere-themed Longaberger basket and to weave it themselves beside a skilled artisan from the Longaberger plant in Dresden, Ohio, was enough to lure Fran Stueck of Vinton, Iowa.

“It’s cool to make your own,” she said, tapping a piece into the woven material Thursday at the John Deere Pavilion. “I’m a Longaberger consultant — I’ve been selling it for 12 years — and my son is an engineer in Ankeny for John Deere, so this is special.”

This is the second time that Longaberger has partnered with Deere & Co. for a basket event. The first one, which ran 10 days, was held two years ago at the John Deere Commons and drew thousands.

This time, the event is shorter, only four days. But the same opportunity exists to create an exclusive John Deere-themed Longaberger basket and learn more about the weaving process, along with getting autographs from Longaberger family members on site during the event.

“This is the only place and only time we’ll make that basket,” said Julie Moorehead, national executive sales director for the Longaberger company. “It’s wildly popular.”

Also, this year, basket-weaving stations are located not only at the John Deere Pavilion but also at the nearby John Deere Collectors Center, where Longaberger has brought a new feature for the event: its Longaberger Factory Store.

The area features an array of what Moorehead described as “retired and revered products,” such as pottery, wrought iron, candles and baskets. The supply is so big, in fact, that it spills out of the collectors center and under a large white tent behind the building.

That’s where Amy Moorman of Centerville, Iowa, was found with her arms loaded down with Longaberger items.

“I only drove 3½ hours to come here, so that’s not bad,” she said, smiling. “Last week, we went out to Ohio (to the Longaberger headquarters), and that took 11½ hours.

“Yeah, I’m a collector.”

She probably has 200 Longaberger baskets at home, but she couldn’t resist traveling to Moline to get the John Deere basket. Besides, her father-in-law retired from Deere.

“This is all John Deere stuff, right?” she said, laughing. “OK, no, it’s not. But I’m buying it, anyway.”

That brings up another reason why this event works: Many people who collect Longaberger items also seem to collect John Deere memorabilia, said Moorehead of the Longaberger company. And if they don’t collect John Deere items, then often they have someone else in the family who is interested in Deere & Co. and that brings them to the event, she added.

“It’s a great opportunity for both of our companies,” said Al Higley, manager of branded properties for Deere & Co., adding that the event not only brings collectors together but also showcases the John Deere Commons.

It’s a big economic boost for the area, too. The Quad-Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates that the festival will draw 10,000 people and bring $1.4 million into the Quad-Cities.

Some of those tourists include four friends — Marisa Dille, Anne Phernetton, Kara Wallerich and Kim Vanderlaan — who drove from Red Wing, Minn., for the festival. Three of them are crazy about Longaberger products, and one of them collects Deere-related items, they said.

“If you walk through the parking lot here, you’ll see license plates from Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa,” said Marisa Dille, of Red Wing, who has been a Longaberger consultant for three years.

People who are crazy about Longaberger will drive long distances to get new ones, they joked. Heck, they alone drove 14 hours from home to visit the company’s headquarters in Dresden, Ohio, they said.

The event especially draws Longaberger consultants, who sell the company’s products from their home-based businesses. Longaberger has 45,000 sales consultants in the U.S., and when the company partners with another company like Deere, those consultants will come from far and wide for special events like this, Moorehead said.

They have good incentive to do so; if the consultants bring visitors to tour the event, they get a free Longaberger basket, she said.

Stueck, a consultant who was weaving her own basket Thursday, said she plans to bring a busload of visitors back Sunday.

Tom Leggett won’t come back to Moline that soon, but the farmer from Wapella, Ill., said he does plan to come here again. His family has farmed 130 years on their centennial farm using John Deere products, so he was happy to tag along with a friend, Diane Ferguson — a big-time Longaberger collector — for the event.

He even made his own John Deere basket, just for fun.

“Hey, it got me to come to the John Deere place,” he said. “It wasn’t bad. It was worth it.”

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com.

What do John Deere-themed baskets look like?

Think green and yellow and tiny tractors.

Each Longaberger small-solutions basket — exclusive to the event this weekend at the John Deere Commons in downtown Moline — includes green-and-yellow trim strips, tractor tack jackets and swinging handles.

Accessories such as basket liner, protector, lid with event logo, handle tie and special event tie-on also are available for purchase.

Weave your own

If you want to weave your own John Deere-themed Longaberger basket this weekend, you better make a reservation — and fast.

Almost all of the time slots for the basket-weaving stations set up for Longaberger Basket Festival 2008 are filled for the four-day event running from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Sunday at the John Deere Commons in downtown Moline.

That’s a lot of basket-weaving; festival planners set up enough weaving stations to make 40 baskets per hour, for 12 hours per day, throughout the event.

While entry to the event is free and open to the public, the cost for making a basket is $59.95 plus tax. Premade event baskets are available for $69.95.

Rich Longaberger, brother to the company’s founder, and his wife, JoAnn, will be available at the event from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, signing baskets. Julie Moorehead, national executive director of sales for the Ohio-based Longaberger company, said signatures of Longaberger family members increase the value of the company’s products.

To reserve a time with Make A Basket, call Longaberger Guest Relations at (740) 322-5588.

To learn more about the Longaberger company, go online to longaberger.com. To read more about Deere & Co., go to deere.com">deere.com.