The idea to create a fun mini-network of selfie stations first arose when local entrepreneur Carol Dalrymple took her kids to a Dr. Seuss-themed exhibit in Toronto before the rise of COVID-19.
Then, during Art Hop this spring, Dalrymple said the urge returned when she spotted people visiting downtown Port Huron stopping to take pictures on the ivy wall at Foundry, her business’ creative headquarters at 1219 Military St., as well as its paint-throwing display, “Oh, Splat!”
“That’s what got my gears turning on it again,” she said walking through the second floor of Foundry last Tuesday.
Dalrymple hopes to launch a series of 15 to 20 selfie stations — the Selfie Factory at Foundry — on the upper level of the building next month.
It’s a space that, she said, usually relies more on room rentals. But now, she hopes to “try something new” during a period when “things slow down a bit.”
Each of her staff members will take charge of a station, and Dalrymple herself will do four or five.
There were plenty of examples — supplies and equipment waiting to be displayed in a backroom, including a bathtub to fill with colorful balls, fake money strewn about to one day be tossed from a throne — Dalrymple added, “The full setting is going to feel like you’re a princess or a baller.” They will soon join other stations themed for a casino, “Stranger Things,” and an enchanted forest.
Dalrymple said she imaged a mini-selfie exhibit being “good clean fun for a younger audience” but soon found all ages could have an interest.
“I’ve had like three different parties here while we’ve been setting up and just testing it out, and this isn’t anything close to done, but the amount of people that have sat on this bench and struck a sexy pose and then had their friends take pictures of them is absolutely insane,” she said, motioning to one area with particularly furry seating. “And they’re adults. I thought this was going to be (for) preteens and teens, and (it is) adults like, ‘Oh, take my picture!’”
Dalrymple also has much broader goals to incorporate other businesses downtown on the idea.
“My hope is this is a big enough, fun enough thing that we can do it a couple times a year and invite other businesses to come in and make their own booth or station,” she said. “And then, we have a competition with it. My idea is to have like Moe’s (Corner Deli) make like a giant sandwich that people are biting into — I haven’t talked to him about this — but you know what I mean? Or the Raven makes a giant coffee cup that people swim in.”
Dalrymple said the Selfie Factory is slated for July 7 through Aug. 13. She was still working out times but anticipated they will “definitely be open” while the onsite escape rooms, under the same Hallway Entertainment umbrella, are open. Those hours are 4 to 8:30 pm. Thursday and Friday, 4 to 10 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.
For more on Foundry, visit Facebook.com/FoundryPH. For Selfie Factory rates and information, visit its Facebook event page.
Being part of a bigger ‘creators’ block’
Dalrymple said she’d imagined selfie-takers coming in the front of Foundry and out the back, where a “progression of music” display is poised to show an arrangement of hanging CDs and mounted cassette tapes and records round a stairwell and toward the exit.
In the back, where Foundry has hosted plenty of events already, is a newly-painted selfie mural to connect to two things.
The first, Dalrymple said is the larger credence of Foundry in general.
“I wanted it to be just like showing all the things that we do here. So, create, entertain, play, escape,” she said. The mural shows five places people can take photos — wearing large headphones, holding a giant key, paintbrush or balloons, or grabbing a mic stand.
Second, it also further connects Foundry to the Jackleg Games & Social Club space, which set up by Dalrymple’s co-working space managers along their shared alley last year as a place for backyard games and socializing.
Dalrymple and Matt Brooks, who owns The Hatch and The Roost, said they’re branding the area the “Creators’ Block.”
“Between her and I with these buildings, we’ve been working hard for — what are we on? — five years just trying to revitalize this block,” said Brooks, who also bought Dalrymple’s former Hallway Escape building on Sixth Street this spring for an emerging video production studio project.
“Momentum breeds momentum,” he said. He also pointed to broader Port Huron trends that lean artistic, such as the mural on the side of the Michigan Mutual building or Raven Café co-owner Jody Parmann’s spearheading a Blue Water Creatives group.
“Now, there’s a sense of energy behind that,” Brooks said. “… We’re only just getting started out here. I think what Carol’s got going here with Foundry’s got such great energy. People just love it.”
Dalrymple said they’re still working on getting a liquor license to serve beer and wine at Foundry. However, the location is included in downtown Port Huron’s social district.
Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.
