RAFFLE AND YARD SALE!

Greetings, friends.

Delighted you got your invite to Saturday, August 20th's yard sale and raffle on behalf of Ecuador's dog refuge, ARCA. If you didn't receive an invite but would like one, leave us an email.

Tickets begin at $10 and get less and less expensive the more you buy!

If you can't make the event but want in on the raffle, you can now buy your tickets online.

Admittedly, this is a big to-do over a refuge that is 6,897 kilometers from Portland. We've got a very good reason. Her name is Valentina Leon, and she's the inspiration behind our Heart of Barkness adventure.

Valentina's a professor of music and a former concert pianist. She invests every free moment she has into maintaining a safe haven and a small medical clinic for Cuenca's unwanted dogs.

And now for the drum roll.......

Introducing some of the Oregon artists featured in our raffle:

Mary Edwards is from Joseph, Oregon. She's a prize-winning underwater photographer who spends countless hours floating in cold rivers to photograph fish. This framed archival print, 'Hiding in Plain Sight' is 31"x35". The colors are insane!

Portland artist Alex Hirsch is best known for her works in glass. Her watercolors are harder to find, but she found one for us, a sketch from Klamath County during a visit to Crater Lake. This framed piece measures 10"x10".

Chris Nelson's works in oil are way, way beyond your average, dog portrait shmaltz. You don't even need to know what a Norwich Terrier is to covet the 14"x14" painting we're offering. What we can't offer is a photo that does the terrier justice, so here's an example of her work to show off what she does.

If you do know what a Norwich Terrier is, or the two dogs above, chances are you harbor an affection for a particular breed. How'd you like to see its likeness as a bronze wall hook, hand-caste by Mary Ann Dabritz? You can have your animal hook of choice from her Cast Of Characters, which include cats, bison, and all manner of animals if you don't do dog.

Do you have a garden? Plant This: A 5' outdoor sculpture in scrumptious colors you just can't grow. We're particularly grateful for this amazing piece from the "slightly askew" metal artist Susan Levine, proprietor of Metalurges right here in River City.

Exhausted by all this bounty? You need a day off at a splendid B&B nestled in the Wallowa Mountains. Our dear friends at Barking Mad Farm are huge animal welfare advocates and would enjoy nothing more than your company at their kick-back hostel for hideaways.

Believe it or not, there's MORE. There's MAR! That's Mar Goman, a woman who creates astonishing art out of, well, everything. She's offered us not one but two of her must-have driftwood dogs. We grabbed them. They could be yours.

Here's a huge thank you to the magnanimous, talented Oregon artists who've donated their original works for Saturday's fundraiser.


Raffle details.

Buy raffle tickets online.