Barb's Weblog

For those of you who remember the Portland Saturday Market in the 'Old' days, here is a bit of sad news. Chico Senn of Fish Hawk Leather died last monday at home. Bobette was holding him til the last, and he got to be at home as he wanted to be. He fought a long battle with cancer that spread from his lungs, and in his own gentle fashion he perservered for 11 years. He was so loved by his friends and marketeer. He was a founding member of the PSM, where he and Bobette raised both a business and a market kid, everybody remembers Nick. Nick and the Dechter kids and many others grew up running the lot and being the perfect next generation marketeers. When Chico moved on to work for the Special Olympics it was a loss for the market, but all of us who knew him were still included in his life, after all he and Bobette were center points for a large group of friends.

He might be best pictured by memory, in Ed Gedrose's 'Volcano Man', a wonderful portrait of Chico, crooked smile, slouched with hands in pockets, mirror shades filled with erupting Mt St Helens...I hope there are a few more of them out there, Ed may have to do a small run for all of us who loved him! Think I'll e him...I might not still have one!

Just thought my friends who loved him might like to see this last glimpse of Chico. Haole took it in 1986 at the Oregon Country Fair.

Love you. Chico!

5:03 PM — e-mail me your comments

SPARC is over, and an exciting weekend it was!
The big rain on saturday night had an awful affect on the show! I had slipped down a hill in my rubber slippers and sprained my ankle (again for the 400th time) on wet grass saturday so we drove into the show up to the booth to drop me off. The first booth was down, then another and another...it was absolute wreckage. Altogether 19 booths took serious damage, and 6 were total losses. A potter near me lost everything in his booth, an entire collapse. The water was the culprit! There was no wind at all, but the rain fell so heavily that it actually crushed the canopies under the weight! Caravans and older ones were the main victims, EZ Ups came thru very well. Don't buy a cheap canopy! There is a reason Costco and Walmart sell them cheap!You get what you pay for! 90% of the problems were new vendors in cheap canopies, folks who hadn't had the benefit of experience. We might be old timers, but we got good advice on the canopy thing! I bet Fred's Canopies in Seattle is having a BANG UP week this week! Not a single Light Dome canopy had a problem.

We had only leaks and a few wet earring cards, but the van had towels and paper towels in it, so we mopped up and set up...had a good show all things considered! Customers were shocked at the sight and the losses, and were generous and supportive. The worse thing for the general body of crafters was that the food area was wiped out and there was no food or coffee! THAT was the hard part!
Imagine a Seattle-ite without a latte cup! Unheard of!

Well, I must away to the salt mines!

Barb

1:35 PM — e-mail me your comments