Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Astoria's Marble Man

I had to mention the passing of a local celebrity of sorts, Stan "The Marble Man" Brown. He was a fellow vendor at the Astoria Sunday Market, so I saw him every Sunday, almost always wearing a black top hat. He always gave me a marble when I went by his tent.

One Sunday, he actually came into my tent and dropped off a marble on one of my tables. "For luck," he said.

Well, I didn't have a lot of luck that day vending, but I sure appreciated the thought.

The Daily Astorian did a nice writeup about him:

The Marble Man

Anyway, this last weekend I was vending at the Starving Artists Faire at the Astoria Yacht Club. And I was doing incredibly, wonderfully well - my photos, cards, and magnets were just selling like hotcakes, and I was really tickled.

Late Saturday afternoon, as I was reaching into the magnet box to get another magnet for a customer, I saw something shiny. Yup, it was a bright orange marble, one of many given to me for luck by the Marble Man.

So a belated "Thank you!" Marble Man, and I hope you're having a grand old time wherever you are.

Astoria Photografpix

3 comments:

The Guy Who Writes This said...

Just when you think you've seen all the local blogs, another one pops up, and you even have a link to my blog, thanks!

Nice writing, and I plan to visit all your articles. You should be listed on CCM and Or Blogs so others may find you.

Guy

Sweeti said...

I remember him too, My grandsons have marbles bought from him, and I have a marble for luck also. *Sigh* It's sad to see someone pass. I hope too that he's enjoying his forever home giving his marbles just for the sheer joy of it.

rgratzer said...

Shoot. I met him last July at the train station in Sacramento. I bought some bingo marbles off of him, and he gave me a few more for good luck.
I had fun talking with him and learning about this trade.

I just moved to Portland and was hoping to stop by Astoria to pay him a visit, and maybe write a piece about him (I'm a freelance reporter).

Sorry to see him go!
I hope my bingo marbles will bring me luck.