by newcomer Ben Parsons
Our annual BikeCraft Fair is a bazaar for local crafters to sell and showcase anything that they make by hand, in Portland, for and about bikes. Each year (we’re now on year five!) the fair gets bigger, with 40 vendors and hundreds of attendees crowding into our biggest space yet last December.
By popular request, we’ll be holding a full-sized BikeCraft this summer on the midway of the Multnomah County Bike Fair this June 27th from 2pm to 7pm.
We’ve had mini-BikeCrafts with a few vendors at MCBF before, but this is the first full-sized one. Look for a big row of crafters on the midway. We have a star lineup building of talented, creative, bike-loving crafters — including familiar faces and some exciting newcomers.
– Becca Bikes is bringing her bike-friendly t-shirt designs to BikeCraft for the first time this year. One shirt design, depicting love blossoming between a person on a bike and a person in a car, puts a whole new spin on sharing the road.
– Another new crafter who just contacted us is Mary Meier, who is launching MMM Werk, a new business modifying summer weight trousers for riding. Meier describes her work this way:
“I hunt down quality used pants and then modify them by shortening them, articulating the knee, installing an adjustable strap on the bottom of the leg and then finally adding 6″ of 3M super reflective fabric tape to the adjustable strap.”
We’ll have more new faces too, as well as a number of folks returning who you’ll remember from previous BikeCrafts. So far, here who’s signed on:
Megan Denton
– 1 by Liz – Popular clocks and magnets made from chain rings
– Megan Denton – handsewn u-lock holders and shoe straps
– Fun Reflector – reflective stickers for your bike and gear, with fun and fancy shapes
– Bike Cozy – “accessories for the practically fashionable rider”
– Tomas Quinones – duct tape handlebar bags (we profiled these back in March)
– Becky Morton – t-shirts and spokecards
– Ben Parsons – colorful screenprints showing bike scenes around Portland (photo at top of post)
– Upcycle 27 – Rebecca James makes clothes, patches, and prints with bike and DIY themes
– B Spoke Tailor – wool knickers and bike accessories
– Microcosm Publishing – bike-oriented books, zines, patches, stickers, and t-shirts
– CoG – a collective of artists who love bikes and make bike hats and bike related clothing and bike related art.
– bIKE pUNK – “Get off your gass and ride!” stickers, shirts, sweatshirts, patches
– CityBikes – Portland’s original cooperative, worker owned bike shop will be selling handmade bike buckets, saddles, t-shirts, stickers, and shirts
(Photo © J. Maus)
There’s going to be a lot more going on at MCBF than BikeCraft — clowns, jousting, contests of skill, the freakiest bikes you’ve ever seen, local bands, a kid fair, TriMet bus demonstrations, food vendors (some bike-powered), helmet giveaways, and many more booths and clubhouses on the midway.
Our hope is to make the fair a twice-yearly event from here on out, with one event in the summer and one before the holidays. Stay tuned for details on BikeCraft V this winter!
If you are based in Portland and make bike related crafts, art, fashion, jewelry, gear, etc by hand, and would like information about participating in summer BikeCraft as a vendor, get in touch with Elly (elly at bikeportland dot org) by June 11th.
Event details:
Summer BikeCraft at MCBF
When: June 27th, 2pm – 7pm
Where: Col. Summers Park, SE 20th & Belmont