This month, Trapper’s Pizza Pub is excited to be premiering our new collaboration with our friends over at Right Mind Syracuse. This new project incorporates our popular Make Your Own Pizza Kits, featuring our homemade pizza dough, sauce, fresh mozzarella, and a topping, with a Right Mind Syracuse craft. We’re calling it the Trappers x Right Mind Pizza & Craft Kit, and the craft in question will be a Scrabble Coaster, as pictured above. The kit retails for $28 and is perfect for anyone looking for a fun night at home with the family. Make a delicious pizza and craft with your kids while it’s in the oven!
This kit is also perfect for grandparents who still may not be able to spend long periods of time with grandkids. We suggest ordering the Pizza & Craft Kits for both homes and spending the evening bonding over pizza, crafts, and a Zoom call. There are so many creative ways to use these kits!
Don’t forget, you can add a bottle of wine for $10 or order one of our cocktails to go in a take-out pouch if you’d rather enjoy a boozy version of this night.
Right Mind Syracuse
On this week’s blog, we thought we’d introduce our readers to the woman behind Right Mind Syracuse, Claire McKenney. Trapper’s has been partnering with Claire and Right Mind Syracuse to host crafting nights for a while now, maybe you’ve even come to a few of them! We even have one scheduled for next month, on April 20th! Keep your eyes peeled for more information on that in the coming weeks.
This past year has been a tough one for many local businesses in Syracuse, so we wanted to hear from McKenney herself about how Right Mind Syracuse has been navigating the challenges of the pandemic, and what we can expect from them in the future.
The Early Days
McKenney grew up just South of Buffalo, but her husband is from right here in Syracuse. She tells us that after graduating from college, they moved to Hawaii together for a little bit, and when they came back to the mainland they ended up going on a cross-country adventure driving back to New York State. Not sure where exactly they’d plant their roots, both McKenney and her husband applied for jobs in Buffalo and Syracuse. In 2010, Syracuse won, and the two of them moved here.
Before she became the mind behind Right Mind, McKenney worked for the non-profit Camp Good Days, a free camp for children and adults who have been touched by either cancer or sickle-cell anemia. McKenney had worked for a corporate paint and sip company before starting Right Mind Syracuse, and while she enjoyed connecting people to art and being in venues around the area, she soon realized that working for a corporation wasn’t allowing her to get as local as she wanted.
Opening Right Mind Syracuse
When McKenney opened up Right Mind Syracuse, she also opened the idea up to encompass not just painting, but all different areas of crafting as well. She explains that people would tell her they didn’t know what to do with their paintings after the Paint and Sip nights. “Some people joked about hanging the paintings in their closets,” McKenney says. Exploring outside of the traditional paint night also allowed her to connect with even more artists and the general community. It gave people the chance to find their own creative outlets.
Right Mind Syracuse began operating only six months before the beginning of the Coronavirus Pandemic. “We were just gaining momentum when it started,” McKenney says. She remembers thinking, “How are we going to stay relevant? How will people remember us when everything starts back up again? We didn’t have a big audience yet, it’s not like everyone knew about us.”
Navigating the Pandemic
McKenney’s fears were not unfounded. Yelp, the infamous restaurant review website, reported that 163,735 businesses in the U.S. had closed their doors by August 31st, 2020. Many small businesses struggled to pivot in the wake of the March and April shutdowns. Attempting to stay in business while also prioritizing the safety of staff and customers at the same time was a challenge some businesses were just fundamentally unable to overcome. Syracuse Stage closed its doors back in March after only one performance of Amadeus. Since then, the regional theater company has pivoted to online performances in lieu of in-person shows.
So what did Right Mind Syracuse do when their in-person events were all canceled? They started creating art kits to sell on their websites. These kits range from the At-Home Spa Day Kit, a collaboration with Camillus spa Based Wellness, to the recent Tipp Hill Traffic Light String Art Kit, inspired by St. Patrick’s Day. “If people are going to be home, we might as well give them something to do,” McKenney says. “I think people appreciate having something creative to do.” These art kits have helped Right Mind Syracuse to stay top-of-mind for their loyal customer base, while still managing to draw in new customers even during the darkest days of the pandemic.
A Post-Pandemic Right Mind Syracuse
As a return to normalcy looms just ahead, Right Mind Syracuse is already cautiously making plans for a post-pandemic world. “We’re getting back to in-person events, slowly but surely,” McKenney explains. She also has some exciting plans for the future of Right Mind Syracuse. “We’re in the early stages of renting a studio space in Syracuse,” McKenney says. Having a studio space will open up the possibilities for Right Mind Syracuse. They’ll have the flexibility to hold classes at any time, and a home base to not only store equipment, but to hold even the messiest of crafting nights. Even with a potential studio space, Right Mind Syracuse will continue to partner with local venues to hold events around the city.
Although the pandemic seems to be on its way out, we’re certainly not out of the woods quite yet. In the meantime, McKenney says that she’s excited to be able to collaborate with other small businesses. “We can help each other through the struggle,” she says.
Trappers x Right Mind Syracuse Pizza & Art Kits are available to order for pick-up or delivery.
Christie Donato is the Marketing Manager for Trapper’s Pizza Pub and a freelance writer. She’s a co-founder of Rogue Dialogue Productions and a writer on the podcast Windfall. Originally from Syracuse, she now resides in Queens with her dog, Piper. You can find more of her work here.