The Women’s League Flea Market, now in its 48th year, will be staged March 19 at University of Puget Sound’s Fieldhouse in Tacoma.
The 60-plus vendors selling antiques, collectibles, vintage and upcycled items, clothing and textiles, jewelry, books, repurposed treasures, home and garden items, creative and artisans’ goods and locally sourced foods are expected to attract crowds in the thousands once the doors open at 9 a.m. Admission will cost $5 after that time. Early birds wanting a sneak peek can get in at 8:15 for $10.
The event also will feature professional evaluators who will give appraisals for a fee on treasures that people want to bring learn their value.
All proceeds from the event will support scholarships for UPS students. Last year, the flea market raised more than $31,000.
Arrangements to donate goods to be sold at the market can be made at pugetsound.edu/womensleague.
The sale debuted in 1968, but the Women’s League was founded in 1900 and has supported the university ever since.
Antiques, collectibles and home items are among the treasures that have been offered at the fund-raising Women’s League Flea Market in past years and again this year at the University of Puget Sound Fieldhouse. (Ross Mulhausen/courtesy photo)
February was American Heart Month, the time to remind everyone that heart disease — still the leading cause of death in American women and men — is preventable.
Uncontrolled blood pressure is the primary cause of the strokes and heart attacks that take the lives of so many. In fact, an American dies from stroke, heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases every 40 seconds.
A healthy heart means a healthy life. Here are seven of the most effective things you can start doing today to help your heart, according to Uma Krishnan, MD, a cardiologist who practices at MultiCare Health System.
1. Visit your doctor for a heart check. Your doctor will ask about your personal and family history and your lifestyle to help assess the risk of heart disease. She should also perform blood pressure, waist measurement and body mass index tests. And she will draw blood to test your sugar, cholesterol and blood fats (triglycerides) levels, which can give indications before symptoms develop.
2. If you smoke, stop. Get help to develop a stop-smoking plan that will work for you, such as MultiCare’s QuitSmart Tobacco Cessation Plan: www.multicare.org/tobacco-cessation
3. Try heart-healthy eating. If you are overweight, eating well will help reduce your weight, cholesterol and other body fats.
4. Determine your body mass index (BMI). BMI measures body fat based on height and weight, which will show whether you are within a healthy range. Search online for “BMI calculator†to easily determine your measurement.
5. Get a move on! Just 30 minutes of daily, moderate activity protects your heart and your health. Try walking briskly, raking leaves, cleaning house, dancing or lifting light weights.
6. Lower your blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure, work with your doctor to find ways to lower it.
7. Control your blood sugar (glucose) level. If you have diabetes, it is vital to control your blood sugar level. Aiming for 100 mg/dL or lower is recommended. Diabetes increases a woman’s risk of heart attack even more than it does for men, including silent heart attacks that occur without symptoms.
Trails have been a dream of Dr. Ernie Bay’s for over 70 years.
As a teenager, he grew up in the Mohawk Valley of upstate New York and spent his summers with a friend exploring the marshes and backwaters of the Mohawk River.
“Being a naturalist at heart, I longed to explore the rural countryside beyond the fenced meadows and forestlands posted with no-trespassing signs,†said Bay.
With the Riverwalk Trail in Puyallup, the Foothills Trail and the Sumner Link Trail, that dream is in the process of being realized. Two to three hundred people a day use the Riverwalk Trail, according to Bay.
However, Bay isn’t finished yet.
Since the early 1980s, his single focus has been the trail system. “It was in my blood,†he said.
In 1986, he linked up with Dr. Bob Kastama, and plans began to come together.
Bay said that in 1987, the City of Puyallup published a conceptual plan for a Riverfront Trail with the aid of a $10,000 grant from the state Department of Ecology, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The trail is in two sections. One runs 2.5 miles from 18th Street Northwest at River Road to Veterans Park at Ninth Avenue and Fifth Street Northeast at the Milwaukee Avenue Bridge. The other begins beneath State Route 512 and continues 2.6 miles to Stortini’s Restaurant and beneath the Burlington Northern Puyallup/Sumner Bridge.
The Puyallup Riverwalk will eventually extend to Tacoma and connect with the popular Foothills Trail that runs through the Orting Valley as part of a regional network.
“Everyone’s goal is for people to go from the west side of Puyallup to Buckley without stopping,†said Bay.
One of the groups using the trail system is the Daffodil Valley Volkssport Association. John Warhol, the president of the association, said there are 76 members in the club.
The Warhols are members of Friends of the Riverwalk and meet with them every Monday at 9 a.m. at Mrs. Turner’s Restaurant in Puyallup, after which they take a long walk on the trail.
“Our goal is fitness. The national (volkssport) motto is ‘fun, fitness and friendship,’†said Carolyn Warhol, who has been walking with a group for over 30 years.
“I enjoy being outside, exercising and seeing new places,†said Carol. She and her husband met on the trail and have been married 19 years.
In 2015, the Daffodil Valley Volkssport Association members put 867 walkers on the Puyallup Riverwalk Trail for a volksmarch, with another 159 members walking a route through the downtown area.
The Warhols are committed to walking the volksmarches. “The goal of a true volksmarcher is to try to do one in all 50 states. We have done 44 so far,†Carol said.
After Bay organized the courtesy patrol for the Riverwalk Trail, he met Dixie and Clay Gatchel on the trail. His bright-yellow jacket and friendly demeanor hooked them right away, and they joined the courtesy patrol soon thereafter.
Sarah Harris, parks and recreation director for Puyallup, can’t say enough about working with the Friends of the Riverwalk.
“They are always doing projects along the trail to enhance it. They clean up, do plantings and are in constant contact with us to let us know if there are any issues. They are so supportive of the trail system and always there to advocate for us. I love working with those guys,†Harris said.
Bay said his work on the trail system has been very rewarding.
“I have never been involved in any project where I’ve received so much appreciation,†he said.
Gatchel agrees.
“Ernie is the focal point in this, and that is why we call him ‘Mr. Trail,’†she said.
Joan Cronk, who wrote this article, is a freelance writer.
Daffodil Valley Volkssport Association walkers take a walk each week on the Riverwalk Trail in Puyallup, starting at Veterans Park. An estimated 300 people walk the paved path along the Puyallup River each week. (Joan Cronk/for Senior Scene)
