The Bubbleman256

Garry Golightly, under his nom de play Bubbleman, is one of those people who gives our sometimes maddeningly reserved city a bit of spark. He's a bubble-blowing fixture at local fairs and festivals and, if you're lucky, you'll catch sight of him doing his bubble thing on Green Lake's east side at sunset.

His purple van with Dot Calm license plates, often streaming bubbles from the driver's side window at stoplights, is a common sight around town.

He says he's "availabubble for birthdays (I call them Worthdays), weddings, divorces, day-care and community centers, upgradings, downsizings, Bar Mitzvahs, unions, reunions, family reunions, schools, nursing homes, fairs, festivals, flea and farmers markets..." His fees are negotiabubble, and he offers a single mother discount. Call him with queries or send an email through his website.

At his shows, which last about an hour and which he prefers to do outside, he puts a length of chain around him and his equipment in a large circle, and doesn't allow children to cross it while he's working. He also enforces a no-smoking and empty-hands (no food or drink in kids' hands) rule. He uses of all sorts of interesting shapes and found objects to make his sometimes enormous bubbles, all the while talking about conservation, respect, and the joys of really cheap toys. Kids are transported to bubble heaven.

Everybody's happy.