Craft center with long family history to host grand-opening of new location in Burfordville

Ava Craft Center has had many homes since it was first founded by Lorrie Yount's great-grandmother in Ava, Illinois.

The craft center — now under the name Ava Craft Center 2.0 — recently moved to a new space in Burfordville, and Yount and her mother, Sherri Killion, want to celebrate.

The mother-daughter duo who operate the craft center will host a grand-opening festival Saturday at its new location, 134 Route U in Burfordville

The event will include food trucks, craft demonstrations and vendor booths. Those who attend the grand opening will have the opportunity to weave parts of a community rug that will be displayed in the craft center after the event.

Ava Craft Center 2.0 is a fourth-generation rug weaving business that was founded by Helen Killion. The rugs are made on antique, two-harness looms manufactured in New York in the early 1900s, Sherri Killion said.

The craft center manufactures rugs to sell and teaches weaving classes to participants. It also hosts more than 30 vendors who sell crafts or antiques.

Killion and Yount previously operated Ava Craft Center in a rented space in Marble Hill, Missouri. They recently moved the shop from that location to a former Methodist church in Burfordville.

For Killion and Yount, weaving is a way of connecting with their heritage.

Killion weaved long before she married her husband and started co-running Ava Craft Center. Yount learned the craft from her grandmother.

"Anytime I do it, my thoughts automatically go to her, even though she's deceased now," Yount said.

The grand opening for Ava Craft Center 2.0 starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. Saturday at 134 Route U in Burfordville.