THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 8, 1996 TAG: 9606080264
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Festival at Large
SOURCE: BY STEPHEN HARRIMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 93 lines
Before sundown Friday I had completed a thorough scouting trip of both Harborfest and Seawall Festival, and now I am going to reveal what is the best possible attraction on either side of the Elizabeth River.
It's a place to sit down.
Did you see any place to sit down wherever you were? I don't mean the grass and I don't mean those park benches, as hot as they are hard. I mean a place where you can sit comfortably and kick back and take a load off your feet.
Maybe it was the heat, and maybe I can take only so much festivity, but that chair I collapsed into - they had a bunch of them spread out in two rows under a tent and some shade trees - was about as comfortable as any as I've sat in.
Mr. and Mrs. O.A. Sinquefield drove up from Charlotte to Portsmouth's Seawall Festival with this load of chairs. They and their three boys make them to sell.
And they sell a lot of them. At $39 each, tax included.
This is their fourth year at Portsmouth. They do this sort of thing at all the big festivals from Florida to New Jersey and west to the Mississippi River, O.A. told me.
The chair is what I guess you'd call a yard chair, or maybe a porch chair. It has a folding wooden frame with a long piece fabric called DuPont Textalite stretched on it. There's a small adjustable pillow for your head. Very simple thing, but what it is, is comfortable. ``You can rock in it, or fold it up or make it into a cot,'' O.A. said. ``All the same chair. It weight 10 pounds and holds 400 pounds. All it needs is a happy home.''
I immediately thought of calling a friend of mine who weighs more than 400 pounds to give the chair the ultimate test. But I didn't. I saw him later and found out he's over 400. That wouldn't be fair to a really nice chair.
Also, the Chairman - that's what I think O.A. should call himself - said that if you scuff the wood a little, liquid brown shoe polish will make it right. ``And in damp weather,'' he advised, ``they might squeak a little. WD-40 will fix that.''
You can just sit in them, I suppose, but everybody that was sitting there while I was there was also buying. Except me. I had to go back to the office and write this to tell you about it.
One young couple, who had come for the weekend by boat, walked up while I was there and sat down.
``We looked at these last year,'' one of them said to O.A., ``and we were going to come back Sunday when we were ready to leave and get two, but you were gone.''
Another guy walked up by himself and tried to buy a chair from me, because I apparently had relaxed so much I looked like I owned the place.
Pointed toward the Chairman, he bought a chair. Another chair, actually. He bought some last year, then came back later for another one and the Sinquefields were gone.
Same story. Sold out. Don't say I didn't tell you.
At the risk of causing a stampede to the Waterside docks for the TRT Elizabeth River Ferry, which has special festival weekend rate of $1 (regular rate 75 cents), I must tell you that when the Sinquefields sell out, they go back to Charlotte. Don't count on them being around after about mid-afternoon today.
Put this paper down right now and get moving.
The Sinquefield's place of business is located between the two large craft tents, just a few steps from the ferry dock. You can't miss it. Just ask somebody, ``Where can a person sit down around here?'' TODAY
Noon: Children's Park opens, until 7:30 p.m.
Noon: Hotcakes
Noon: Churchland Middle School Jazz Band
1 p.m.: Douglass Park Third Grade
1:30 p.m.: Douglass Park Kindergarten
2 p.m.: Douglass Park First Grade
2 p.m.: Savannah
2:30 p.m.: Highland-Biltmore Drill Team
3 p.m.: Hunt-Mapp Middle School Beginning Band
3:30 p.m.: Park View Marching Band
4 p.m.: Charisma Performance Company (Evelyn Ott's School of Dance)
4 p.m.: The Ohio Players
6 p.m.: The UnNaturals
8 p.m.: Casper
SUNDAY
Noon: Children's Park opens, until 6 p.m.
Noon: Ernie LeBeau
Noon: The Fairytaler
1 p.m.: Classic Comedy Slapstick with Tutu and Tootsie
2 p.m.: Hurrah Players
2 p.m.: Slapwater
3 p.m.: A Magic Adventure with Merman
4 p.m.: The Fairytaler
4 p.m.: 1964: The Tribute
5 p.m.: Classic Comedy Slapstick with Tutu and Tootsie
KEYWORDS: HARBORFEST SEAWALL FESTIVAL by CNB