STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Jennifer Biondi has come full circle with her new bicycle tees.
At 13, she recalls, she helped a shopkeeper set up and operate his silk screen press. Pretty soon, she was printing the t-shirts for all the athletic organizations in and around Santa Cruz.
Now, Biondi’s back in the t-shirt business with her new bicycle tees or what she calls her “super-soft feel-good t-shirts,” which she was selling Saturday at the Papoose Club Holiday Bazaar in Ketchum.
“It started with the eclipse. I didn’t like any of the t-shirts that were out there so I designed my own and it sold out immediately,” she said. “So, I took my passion for biking and designed what I should thought a bicycle tee should look like.”
The result: t-shirts with mountain bikes facing one way and road bikes facing the other way. There’s a t-shirt featuring a bicycle atop a Volkswagen van in a nod to growing up in Santa Cruz where there were “bugs everywhere.”
And, in a unique touch, there’s a crow on every shirt with a bicycle ring in its beak.
“Crows take parts from my shop, and I’m waiting for them to bring something to me—I’m told they will,” Biondi said.
Biondi is one of about 70 vendors at this year’s 27th annual bazaar, which concludes today from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Hemingway Elementary School, 111 8th St. W., in Ketchum. Santa will pop in from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Among this year’s new items: Wish Keepers provided by Boise Raku artist Melodee Sather.
“They’re designed as a place for you to store your wishes and dreams for safe keeping,” she said.
Bellevue’s Billie Leigh is selling Cabernet, White Zinfandel and Muscato jellies.
“The Raspberry Merlot, made with my home grown raspberries, usually sells out first,” she said. “They’re great for topping cheesecakes with.”
Students at Wood River Middle School are selling elaborate Peruvian caramel butter cookies the size of dimes to raise money for their Spanish immersion trip. And, if you prefer something a little tangier, around the corner you can find Roseana’s Tomato Chili Chutney.
Proceeds from the bazaar benefit local children’s organizations in the Wood River valley.