Button collectors’ workshop draws small but committed crowd
Karen Perry, far left, from Houston and Joyce Simpson, far right, from Dallas, look at buttons with Freda Knight, middle, and Cynthia Boatman, who are both members of the Ft. Worth Button Club.
By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula
Folks from all over the state traveled to Marble Falls Saturday, Sept. 27, for the first Bluebonnet Button Club workshop at the First United Methodist Church.
Many spoke about the beginnings of their interest in buttons, which almost always included Grandma’s “button box.”
“It all started with my grandmother’s collection,” said Susan Barber of Ft. Worth. “Buttons are not made, they’re created. We all have a feeling about buttons or we wouldn’t be here.”
It was definitely a social gathering, with more interest in chatting, making friends and comparing button collections than on wheeling and dealing.
“The thing that just fascinates me is that every button was created as an idea in someone’s mind, they’re works of art,” Barber said. “You don’t buy a button because it’s beautiful, but because it speaks to you.”
There were at least 17 tables of button and button-book sellers. Dealers from the biggest cities in Texas (including Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio) traveled to the workshop. Button clubs attended the event also to sell their extra buttons.
The Bluebonnet Button Club, which meets in Burnet, has members from all surrounding counties.
The Bluebonnet Button Club holds monthly meetings (except for July and August) at the Burnet County Courthouse Annex. Membership costs $5 a year.
