Repair Café

Annual Earth Day event saves dozens of items from a trip to the dump

It may have been one of the strangest lineups in the County this year. More than a dozen people waited patiently in the basement of the Picton Library while holding broken lamps, dull knives and scissors, lifeless computer tablets, silent radios, bicycles in need of care and even clothing requiring a patch or a new zipper.

The annual Earth Day event Repair Café held on Saturday offered free expert help to resurrect items that might have been destined for the dump. More than 85 people brought 145 items for repair with 65 per cent of the items fully functional after the visit.

One happy customer was Linda Hepburn of Waupoos, whose broken item was a clock radio she had bought in the 1970s.

“It worked fine until a couple of months ago when I dropped it,” she said.

Across the table, Julian Katz pulled the electronics out of the wooden case and began testing various connections. After half an hour, he was able to find the loose connections and fix them.

Julian, a Picton beekeeper, is a self-taught electronics expert who used to find old TVs and VCRs on the curb and bring them home to take them apart and figure them out. “I have made a lot of things for my kids,” he said.

When the 50-year-old clock radio suddenly squawked to life, Linda’s face broke into a smile, although Julian did caution that the volume knob “might be a little sensitive.”

Over in the far corner was the bicycle repair stand.

“This is great fun for us,” said kt Misener, owner of the Bloomfield Bicycle Company. “We get to meet a lot of folks.”

In the first two hours, kt and Jason Pettit had repaired six bikes.

“Last year our biggest problem was a wheelchair,” said kt. “There was no real adjustment for the seat so we took the whole wheelchair apart and got someone to drill some holes and put some bolts in to reset that wheelchair.”

At the next table, a woman watched as one of her kitchen knives was being sharpened. When he had finished, the man behind the table held up a piece of paper and gently sliced it with the newly sharpened knife.

“Oh my,” said the woman. “That’s great.”