Last night’s BikeCraft event was fantastic. The turnout was massive, everyone seemed to have good time, and Portland was introduced to an impressive and inspiring array of artisans who shared their arts, crafts, and other wonderful things.
On that note, I present the slideshow below:
I had way too many highlights to share in the detail they deserve, but a few things come to my mind.
— The stencil paintings of Anthony Baysore (website here) were a pleasant surprise (Elly Blue did all the organizing for the event this year, so I didn’t get to know the vendors like in year’s past).
, and learning about his
vintage teapot bike headlamps
was something I won’t
soon forget.
— I spent several minutes with a big grin on my face as I fingered a copy (along with hoardes of other people) of Dirty Pictures, a new photo book from the crew behind PDXcross.com. The book is a symbol of the drama, fun, places and faces that make up Portland’s incomparable cyclocross scene.
— Forrest Scott, who I don’t think was even on the vendor list, showed up with a gorgeous pair of hand-hammered fenders that drew stares from all who passed.
— It was nice to catch up with Brian Engelen. Brian launched Fun Reflectors at BikeCraft last year and now he’s got them into over 40 bike shops. He also gave me a sample of a new BikePortland.org reflective sticker (watch for those soon).
— The Festivus Ale poured by our host, Roots Organic Brewing, was a treat to the tastebuds.
— I loved all the products you just can’t find anywhere else: toe cozies that fit over your toe clips; light-switch covers covered in bike art; panniers made from duct tape; a nifty U-lock holder that straps onto your belt…
— The Maus girls raised $38.00 in our “Bike Sale for Bikeways”. We’ll be sending the cash to City Hall to help Portland pay for safer bikeways. (Thanks to Black Sheep Bakery for the treats).
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— I chatted a bit with the founder of the Bicycle Film Festival, Brendt Barbur. He’s experienced bike scenes all over the world and it was neat to hear that he was so enthused about BikeCraft.
— I really enjoyed sitting down and chatting with several of the vendors, hearing their stories and learning more about their work. We are lucky to have so many talented and creative artisans in this city.
— It was a treat to see the queue of cargo bikes and trailers get loaded up at the end of the show. Many of the vendors packed up all their wares into various contraptions and loaded them onto a bike to get home.
Elly Blue workin’ the
raffle ticket sales.
I also want to give major thanks to everyone that helped put this together. Jim Anderson (volunteer supreme), Liz Dickey (raffle prize rouser), The Maus girls (Juli, Danica, Eleni), Sara from Roots (gracious hostess), John Howe (loud-mouthed, yet lovable emcee), Jeff Castro of BikeRacker (who showed up at the 11th hour to provide bike parking), and all of our raffle prize donors, and of course, Elly Blue.
Elly is the first (and currently the only) full-time BikePortland staffer and BikeCraft IV would not have happened without her. She did a great job in putting it together. Thank you Elly!
Elly and I (and the rest of the smart and helpful people we always run things by) are already busy thinking about the next BikeCraft (a summer version?!). We’ll work on finding a larger venue and next time we’ll find a way to fit all the vendors we had to turn away this time.
If you showed up last night, we’d love to hear your feedback. Thanks for coming out and stay tuned for more…