Southern Illinois: Art, ice cream and eccentricities add up to success for Makanda's historic boardwalk

MAKANDA, Ill. -- Dave Dardis has been working on his masterpiece since 1975.

From a distance, the sculpture, which stands roughly 6 feet high, appears to be a double helix of tarnished copper rising from a twisted wooden stump and culminating in a globe at the top.

Closer examination reveals the piece is made up of hundreds of individual human figures.

More than four decades after he began the sculpture, Dardis still is adding to it, tucking shiny new people in among the old ones to catch viewers' eyes and entice them to take a closer look.

Dardis owns Rainmaker Studio on Makanda's boardwalk, a block-long strip of storefronts dating to the late 1800s.

Artist Dave Dardis points out a recently added metal figure on a sculpture Friday, March 10, 2017, at Rainmaker Studio in Makanda, Illinois. Dardis said he has been working on the elaborate sculpture since 1975.Emily Priddy

Many of the boardwalk's tenants have changed over the years, but Dardis has been a constant since 1973, creating and selling jewelry and sculptures in an old bank building that smells of dust, cigarette smoke and time.

Every available surface seems to be covered with rings, necklaces, barrettes and other items.

In his gallery space next door, Dardis is cultivating a virtual rain forest of tropical houseplants, some trailing vines from containers in the window and others growing several feet high in massive pots in the center of the room. A metal insect the size of a collie lies on the ground below an enormous philodendron, a can of Raid sitting next to it.

Tourist draw

At least two boardwalk businessmen regard Dardis' creativity as a key to the boardwalk's success.

Metal trees seem to grow alongside metal ones Friday, March 10, 2017, in the garden behind Rainmaker Studio in Makanda, Illinois.Emily Priddy

Phil Beck is in his fourth year pulling shots of espresso and selling sandwiches, coffee and ice cream as owner of the Makanda Country Store, which he bought when longtime owner Bill Abney retired.

Beck identifies Dardis as the visionary behind much of Makanda's success.

"Dave Dardis, you know. If you go all the way back to the '70s, it was Dave," he said.

Abney, sipping coffee and shooting the bull with Dardis one late-winter afternoon at Rainmaker, said people come to see the artist "just 'cause he's such a colorful character."

Beck said local entrepreneurs have drawn inspiration from Dardis.

Bags of coffee and jars of loose tea line the shelves Friday, March 10, 2017, at Makanda Country Store in Makanda, Illinois.Emily Priddy

"'Let's do something cool like that' has just been the whole thing," he said.

One of Dardis' cool things lies just beyond the back door of his studio.

A dark, narrow corridor leads visitors through the building and out into a lush, wooded area once known as "the secret garden."

The garden isn't much of a secret these days; like its owner, it has become a tourist attraction unto itself, inviting people to meander past moss-covered stones, native plants and a pond decorated with Dardis' whimsical creations.

Dardis said some of the garden's visitors arrive in Makanda in hiking boots or on bicycles, exploring the 160-mile River to River Trail, which spans Southern Illinois from the Ohio River at Elizabethtown to the Mississippi River at Grand Tower.

Headline Bold:Peruvian paintings of Christ mingle with pictures of Hindu deities above a wide doorway Friday, March 10, 2017, at Makanda Trading Co. in Makanda, Illinois. Flanking the entrance are framed blue morpho butterflies on one side and bamboo-root masks on the other; in the next room, Tibetan prayer flags hang from the ceiling.

He said tourist traffic has picked up since the '70s.

"Since then, I would say a lot more people coming through," he said. "That's noticeable. There was always a lot of down time when nobody came through day by day."

It's the economy

Down the block at Visions Art Gallery, which first opened in 1999, Nina Kovar listed a few other forces driving tourists to Makanda: a proliferation of wineries in Southern Illinois; the proximity of Giant City State Park, which lies just east of the village; and nearby Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

But Kovar, who has owned Visions for the past eight years, noted another, perhaps less obvious, factor: The recession that hit the U.S. economy a few years ago prompted people to curtail their travel to exotic locales.

A basket of "dinosaur poop" is offered for sale Friday, March 10, 2017, at Makanda Trading Co. in Makanda, Illinois.Emily Priddy

"I think when the economy started having problems back in 2009 or whenever it was, I think maybe it helped us some because people started taking little mini-vacations instead of going to Hawaii or something," she said.

Kovar said with its emphasis on local art, her shop attracts vacationers.

"My place in particular is someplace where people can get locally made items," she said. "... That's something that particularly appeals to tourists."

Makanda Trading Co. opened next door to Visions in 2001, but its specialty is much different: Owner Brian Beverly travels extensively, buying items from artists all over the world, said his friend Dillan McKitrick, who was minding the shop on a recent afternoon.

If customers are seeking spiritual enlightenment, Makanda Trading Co. probably can help them with that quest.

A can of bug spray sits next to the carcass of a giant metal insect Friday, March 10, 2017, in the gallery at Rainmaker Studio in Makanda, Illinois.Emily Priddy

In addition to books, crystals and every imaginable kind of incense, the store offers a wide array of religious items: Buddha figurines in day-glow colors sit in neat rows on a table, Tibetan prayer flags flutter from the ceiling, and Peruvian portraits of Christ hang on a wall next to pictures of Hindu deities.

Success and failure

Abney said he has seen businesses come and go since he came to the boardwalk in 1988.

Some failed for lack of interest; others closed because their owners' hours were too erratic for customers to find them, Abney said.

"That don't work. You've got to be here all the time if you want to have a business," he said.

Owner Phil Beck, left, waits on customers Friday, March 10, 2017, at Makanda Country Store in Makanda, Illinois.Emily Priddy

Beck learned his business from Abney while working at Makanda Country Store part-time for a few years before he bought it.

"I've done a little time here," Beck said, grinning. "... I knew exactly what I was getting into, pretty much."

Total eclipse

Beck doesn't know exactly what he'll be getting into at 1:21 p.m. Aug. 21, when a total solar eclipse will darken the sky over Makanda.

The village is considered the optimal spot to view the eclipse, so businesses are preparing for an influx of tourists.

Owner Nina Kovar poses for a photo Friday, March 10, 2017, at Visions Art Gallery in Makanda, Illinois. The gallery features work by Southern Illinois artists.Emily Priddy

Dardis is creating special artwork to mark the event; Kovar said other artists are doing likewise, and at the opposite end of the boardwalk from Rainmaker, the Eclipse Kitchen, a restaurant and visitors' center, has opened.

"They say it's going to be a big deal, don't they? I don't really know what to expect," Beck said. "I'm just going to try and stock up as best I can."