There may be bigger manufacturing firms in northeast Indiana, but chances are none smell as nice as Annie Oakley Enterprises, located on the north side of Ligonier.

The company is marking its 30th anniversary this year with a major addition to what is believed to be the only perfume factory in the United States. The company's history reads like an all-American success story.

Annie Oakley Enterprises had a simple start in 1980 when Renee Gabet and her husband, Chuck, created and hand-blended fragrances and essential oils in the kitchen of their family home. Even their children pitched in. Over time, the products gained popularity and the small home-based company expanded into an off-site factory or perfumery, as the manufacturing sites are known in the industry.

Annie Oakley offers a full line of natural fragrances and body products for both men and women, and has sold more than two million bottles around the world. Gabet takes pride in marketing her products as organic and natural.

She also has become a savvy businesswoman who keeps a tight control over her products and their image. Annie Oakley products are sold in nearly 1,000 retailers in several different countries. New products are constantly being developed and Gabet never seems to be content with the way things are.

In June, the company broke ground on an all-new perfumery studio scheduled to open in September. The 1,700-square-foot addition to the existing 9,000-square-foot facility will be marketed to tourists as well as locals, and will be an addition to the tourist attractions already open in Noble County, said Gabet.

"We are looking forward to bringing more tourism to our hometown," she said. "Our plan is to create fun and excitement for the tourists and to open up more commerce in our area."

The studio will allow visitors to see the products being made and will take them through steps used to develop special fragrances. Tourists will be able to work with a perfumer to develop their own personal fragrances.

"We really think this will appeal to group tours and social clubs," said Gabet as she continued working on the smallest details on the new addition. She brought in a complete lineup of professionals to work on the studio including a construction designer (Grim Construction), architect (Rich Hersha) and interior designers Katherine Falkensern and Patricia Baldus.

Design features include an open concept with glass French doors. The cement floors have been ground and polished to create a vintage look. A gallery area will display the American story and history of the Annie Oakley perfumery. It will also include perfume and beauty bars, gift shop and coffee bar.

"We're really going for the feel of a French bakery," Gabet said.

The $30,000 investment will also add a handful of jobs to the local economy.

While well known in the West Noble area, the Gabet's reputation is perhaps even stronger in other parts of the country where her products are sold and used by tens of thousands customers. They market Annie Oakley colognes, perfumes, lotions and more to many different markets, and one obvious niche is the western market of people who attend high-end horse shows and rodeos.

At the local level Gabet has been working city, county and regional tourism groups to help bring more visitors to Noble and LaGrange counties. She's been in touch with bus-tour operators and has received favorable feedback on the potential draw her perfume studio could be. Her fans includes John Bry, executive director of the Noble County and Visitors Bureau.

"I feel Renee's studio will be a welcomed asset to the diverse heritage and cultural tourism offerings we are seeing being created throughout Noble County," Bry said. "I have no doubt that the end product at Annie Oakley will indeed draw visitors and contribute to the over $45 million in economic impact that the hospitality industry represents to Noble County every year. She has worked very hard to realize this part of her dream of her business, and think it is a wonderful compliment to the revitalization efforts in Ligonier."

Gabet believes her new studio will have a lot of synergy with the tourist attractions in Shipshewana and Amish country.

The history of the company and its name are as unique as the products made in Ligonier.

Gabet started in the business world more than 30 years ago by designing and selling her own line of jewelry. She self-marketed her products to malls and stores across the country, and became a success.

One night while in New York City on a business trip, she was having dinner with her brother and they began discussing ways in which she could expand, and new markets that could open up for her. She had always been entranced by perfumes and colognes, and the discussion turned to the simpler days of the 1950s and 60s.

The name Annie Oakley came up. "I knew right away that it was a name I wanted to use with my new company," she said.

She contacted a trademark attorney who discovered the name Annie Oakley had been trademarked for many years by show business legend Gene Autry. But Autry had let it expire and Gabet quickly filed the necessary paperwork to claim it for herself.

Using her homespun business sense and valuable experience gained by marketing her jewelry, Gabet quickly went to work to make her new company a success. The first batches of perfumes were mixed by her and her husband in the family garage, and the products started flying off the shelves at malls and high-end stores across the nation.

As business grew, they found an available, small manufacturing site not far from their home on Ligonier's north side and established their own factory for making dozens of products.

Gabet takes pride in the way she presents her fragrances and has even contracted with well-known European designers for her custom-designed bottles.

She's also become an expert on the life of Annie Oakley, who died in 1926 at the age of 66. "She was born not too far from here in western Ohio," Gabet said.

At one time, Oakley was considered the most famous woman in the world and lived an exciting life full of fame, fortune and even some undeserved misery at the end.

She gained famed for her sharp-shooting skills as part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. She performed before kings and queens in Europe, and even became close friends with Queen Victoria. "Something a lot of people don't know is that Annie Oakley was credited with bringing Queen Victoria out of an isolated period of depression," Gabet noted.

In 1903, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst published a false story that Oakley had been arrested for stealing to support a cocaine habit. The woman actually arrested was a burlesque performer who told Chicago police that her name was "Annie Oakley" and Hearst spread falsehoods to sell papers. The real Annie Oakley spent much of the next six years winning libel lawsuits against newspapers, and eventually cleared her name, but at great expense.

For both the Spanish-American War and World War I, Oakley contacted U.S. presidents about putting together a squad of all-female sharpshooters but her offers were rejected.

Gabet even has a little history protecting her company's image. About two years ago, a California tanning salon owner started using the name of one of Gabet's Annie Oakley products in his business. Gabet took him to court and quickly won a judgement, forcing the salon owner to stop using the name.