May 8—Katy Lipscomb has made the most of her career in the arts.

Lipscomb is involved with Aiken Music Fest, owns a fabric store called Material Things and has helped organize the Indie Arts Vintage Market in the past.

With Aiken Music Fest kicking off on May 7, Lipscomb is fully in the swing of it.

"It's a fun, fabulous evening," she said. "It's just one of my favorite things I did."

Lipscomb's interest was sparked around 2017 when she realized how many musically gifted people there are in Aiken.

"I was amazed at the talent, and the only place that anybody could play was really Playoffs," Lipscomb said. "We didn't have venues for people to play."

Lipscomb was interested in Highfields Event Center and she, along with others involved, contacted Rick Cram, who owns the facility with his wife, Cathy. Cram's interest was piqued, and the process began.

"One of the girls that worked for (Cram) and I started listening to bands and saying, 'who do we want to come,'" Lipscomb said. "That first year (in 2017) was fabulous."

With the venue being a six-acre field, it's large enough for a crowd. One question that Lipscomb initially had was how to get people to come to a show if they don't know any of the bands. The crew has worked around that by building a reputation for bringing in "fabulous music."

"You may not know what the name of the band is, but you know that we've vetted them," Lipscomb said. "You want to get to learn about them, but you know it's going to be good music."

"All of us that work on it are passionate about it," she continued. "People are calling us wanting to volunteer. You go out there, and it's the same people. The same people come back, and it's like a big family now. Everybody can't wait until Music Fest starts."

Lipscomb first came to Aiken in 1984. While she was born in Nashville, Tennessee, she had lived in 15 different places before settling in the South Carolina city.

"We moved every two years growing up," Lipscomb said with a laugh.

Lipscomb's parents came to Aiken before she did, and she made the decision to move after visiting them and experiencing the city. At the time, she had recently graduated from graduate school at Southern Illinois University with a master's in information systems.

On her visit, she noticed the warmer weather and sunshine, which differed from the conditions in Illinois and West Virginia. Lipscomb and her husband moved to Aiken shortly after and have been here ever since.

Initially, Lipscomb worked at the Savannah River Site but wanted some flexibility as she was the mother of a two-year-old. One day, she was talking with her sister-in-law, who suggested Lipscomb open a business.

"I said, 'Ok I'll start a fabric store,'" Lipscomb said. "And I started researching and I did it."

30 years later, she's still going.

Lipscomb joked she could've opened a fabric store with just the fabric in her closet. She got into fabric and sewing at a young age, even teaching herself how to sew. With her family moving so much, Lipscomb was schooled in the art of design with her mother decorating each house the family lived in.

"It was definitely a little startup," Lipscomb said of her business. "I remember explicitly the first time I did $2,000 worth of business for the day, I mean, it was unbelievable. I couldn't believe we'd done that much business."

Lipscomb recalled her husband growing corn on some land the family owned in Montmorenci.

"With my two-year-old on the back of our truck, we sold corn," Lipscomb said with a smile. "The corn that we sold, (that) money was what bought my first fabric rolling table for my business."

Once expansion became an option, Lipscomb moved her business over to Aiken's Southside, next to Sherwin-Williams. The impact was immediate.

"My business doubled in one day," she said.

In total, Lipscomb said her business has moved six times, with its current iteration being at 616 Park Ave. S.E. since 2018.

"Every time I moved, it allowed me to reinvent myself a little bit," Lipscomb said. "I think you have to do that, in retail especially."

She spoke particularly about when she was a resident of Centre South Shopping Center on Pine Log Road. Lipscomb said her brother opened a restaurant in the shopping center, called Red Pepper Cafe.

Lipscomb described the shopping center as having "synergy," with her store, at which time she was also selling furniture.

A self-described small business advocate, Lipscomb also enjoys networking and connecting people. In 2019, she organized an Indie Arts Vintage Market in the lot next to her store. On the third Saturday of each month, shoppers could peruse locally-made items, including candles, art, jewelry and clothing.

The challenges brought about by COVID-19 forced Lipscomb to "juke and jive," which she said is a key ability for small business owners.

"Instead of just being open for retail with somebody sitting here wondering if somebody's gonna come, we started working by appointment," Lipscomb said. "It is working great."

For those interested in small business, Lipscomb said one key to the prosperity of a small business is to own your own property, which isn't always easy.

"I spent many years looking for property to buy that would work for me, and in Aiken it's difficult," Lipscomb said.

For what the future holds, Lipscomb said she doesn't know if she'll ever retire.

"I think I've got 30 years of fabulous customers," she said. "I like the size we are now."

"There's just so much potential down here," Lipscomb continued, talking about the area by her shop. "It's an extension of downtown, so I want to concentrate my efforts there."