On August 12 and 13, the Eau Claire cultural buzz will be amplified by the second Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival. During the fest, local shop Red’s Mercantile will host a backyard, flea-market style gathering of craftspeople from the area and beyond. Various vendors will showcase and sell their handmade art and products, from leather goods to henna tattoos, in the alley behind Red’s at 224 N. Dewey St. One visiting seller, Prairie La Crosse, will venture from their namesake city and bring their unique vintage wares to Eau Claire for the weekend.

“By selling vintage clothing, our goal is to help cultivate a cultural identity of recycling and appreciation of past generations. Most of the items we come across still have so much life left in them, and they deserve to be worn.” – Prairie La Crosse

Prairie La Crosse owners Hanna Compton and Kareena Sheely relocated to Wisconsin from southern California. Sheely moved with her husband in 2012, and Compton moved in 2015 after falling in love with the town while visiting her longtime friend. It was in January 2015 that the women, both in their mid-twenties, united their separate online vintage sales and created a joint Etsy store, which they christened Prairie La Crosse. A month later, they signed a lease for a brick and mortar building, which includes two antique-styled apartments above it that the two live in, and their shop space in downtown La Crosse, which opened its doors that August. The space, located at 535 Main St., has timeless, eclectic vibes – which is to be expected in a store selling vintage items – where exposed brick walls and wood floors enclose visitors in a cozy space of nostalgia.

Their sale items come largely from local donations. They also frequent estate sales and dig through piles at distribution centers, while keeping in contact with other vintage collectors that often give them items.

“When we first opened we had a wide array of styles we were trying to cater to,” Compton and Sheely wrote in an email. “Over the year that we have been open we have really fine-tuned our selection to eras we adore the most. We pretty much exclusively sell pre-1970s, with an emphasis on 1910s-1940s. Women dominate our customer base, but we do have a wide selection of men’s clothing specializing in workwear and leather boots.”

Compton and Sheely want to emphasize the importance of vintage in modern culture through the store and their travels to places like Eau Claire. They hope to expand, both physically and with their business by hiring employees.

“Vintage is unique, one of a kind fashion that provides the community with a non-corporate, sustainable way of shopping,” they said. “By selling vintage clothing, our goal is to help cultivate a cultural identity of recycling and appreciation of past generations. Most of the items we come across still have so much life left in them, and they deserve to be worn.”

The Prairie La Crosse duo hope to continue making acquaintances with salespeople similar to themselves. They found such a chum in Red’s Mercantile owner, Becca Cooke, through the wonders of the internet. Cooke invited the two to set up a pop-up shop with their own goods for a day in her store back in March, and then that idea grew to include additional vendors, and plans for this upcoming Back Alley Pop Up on Eaux Claires weekend started formulating. Details of the event are still in the works, but the Compton and Sheely say it is sure to be a wonderful occasion where visitors can stop and pick up a memento or two from the festival days.

To get better acquainted with Prairie La Crosse, visit their website at prairielacrosse.com or visit their shop in La Crosse sometime at 535 Main St. The Back Alley Pop Up at Red’s Mercantile will be held August 12 and 13 in Eau Claire.