Kelsea DeGaetano poses in her shop, Kelsea Designs, in Pierceton. DeGaetano is in her second year as the Pierceton Chamber of Commerce president. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

PIERCETON — At just 28, Kelsea DeGaetano has achieved much.

She’s owned Kelsea Designs at 105 W. Market St., Pierceton, for more than eight years and this month started her second year as Pierceton Chamber of Commerce president.

The latter is a role that DeGaetano said she couldn’t have envisioned as her younger introverted self.

It was her family that influenced her to enjoy making items and refurbishing furniture, which she now sells through her shop, along with antiques and vintage.

Her father, Scott McDonald, started his contracting business when she was a year old.

“He just kind of took that leap of faith … so that’s kind of the mentality that I was raised … in, if you have the desire to go out and do it and if you apply yourself in that … you can reach for whatever you’re reaching for and a lot of times get it just by putting in that effort,” said DeGaetano.

She said her mother, Sirenna McDonald, and grandmother “would do crafts with (her) all the time” when she was little, calling herself “the craftiest little kid.” Woodworking and other related projects in school and 4-H also spurred her home decor interest.

For a while, DeGaetano wanted to be a veterinarian, but ultimately chose to study interior design at Indiana Wesleyan University following her graduation from Warsaw Community High School in 2013.

However, she said her continuing at IWU “just did not fit” after awhile.

“They were very suggestive of working for a bigger company, a bigger contractor, going away, moving to a city, and … I (had) no desire to do that at all,” said DeGaetano.

She’d already started her business, selling items at vendor events, and her parents and now husband Lorenzo DeGaetano encouraged her to pursue her passion and get a physical location to sell from. Kelsea Designs opened in July 2014.

DeGaetano refurbishes furniture through her shop and sometimes builds it herself. Those items are then either sold directly at the store or done as custom work for people. She makes wreaths and other Christmas decorations for the holiday season.

She said she enjoys her customers’ reactions to her work.

“A lot of times my favorite compliment is ‘I wouldn’t have thought to do that with something like that,'” she said. “You can really get those unique, individual one-of-a-kind pieces from a shop like mine.”

DeGaetano said future plans for her business are just getting more of her redone furniture back in the store as, due to she and her husband remodeling their home, she’s not had a lot of time recently to work on furniture.

Her shop is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. People can also call (574) 551-0302 at other times, with DeGaetano being able to open up the shop for them if she’s there or set up an appointment for them to shop.

With her business open in Pierceton, DeGaetano became involved in the town’s chamber. She started as chamber president last year after her predecessor stepped down in the midst of her term.

“I was kind of at the point in life where it’s like if I’m going to do something like this, I could do it now,” she said. “I like the community volunteer work and that interaction and meeting people.”

Under her leadership, the chamber started Second Saturdays in town, which DeGaetano said was the suggestion of Pierceton business Second Fiddle owners Rob and Tammy Neel.

Vendors are welcome to set up on sidewalks along First Street during those dates. Right now Second Saturdays are seasonal, as they’re all outdoors, but DeGaetano eventually hopes to have them year-round.

She said she might move some vendors into Brower Park during Second Saturdays to expand. The first Second Saturday for 2023 will be May 13, the day before Mother’s Day.

“That will coincide with Destination Pierceton, which we did for the first time last year,” she said. “That’s to bring people to town, making it known as a destination and with that, we do an online silent auction fundraiser for the chamber to do all of the events and advertising that we do throughout the entire year.”

The chamber’s other events include Pierceton Days and the Heirloom Tomato Festival in the summer, and the Heritage Gathering Primitive Show, Shop Hop and Christmas lighting ceremony in December.

DeGaetano said the chamber has around 40 members, and people are welcome to join and can be as involved as they wish to be.

Non-chamber members are also welcome to attend the organization’s meetings, which are 5:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at the Pierceton Community Building.

To learn how to join the chamber, people may call (574) 797-3033 or email [email protected]. They can also check out the chamber’s website or Facebook page.

DeGaetano said being chamber president is “rewarding.”

“I would have never thought in a million years that I would do it or that I would like it because I was not very extroverted to want to do things like this, but … it’s the most thrilling thing to be a part of,” she said.