Allan Appel Photo
As in a rocking chair, that is.
As Justin Elicker and volunteers finished canvassing in Fair Haven Heights on Saturday, the mayoral candidate spotted a rocker for sale on Grand Avenue just east of the bridge.
It was among end tables, TVs, a white dining room set, and lawn furniture, part of Rich Torcello’s never-ending weekend display of old furniture that he hauls out of the barn he rents set back from Grand near the river and places on the sidewalk. That’s,where the Elicker team spotted the item.
“I need a ten-minute rest from campaigning,” Elicker said.
He and the volunteers had been knocking on doors in Fair Haven Heights for three hours. Elicker said he had received “lots of good comments about education and quality-of-life issues.”
But now it was time to try out the rocker.
Torcello then drove up in his gun-metal grey truck. “It’s simple, classic. I play a little banjo,” Elicker said to him and took out his wallet. The price on the chair indicated ten dollars.
The candidate fished out a twenty.
Torcello said he had never sold a rocking chair to a candidate before, especially one he approved of. So whether the candidate wanted to hear, Torcello launched into a complaint about how life can be improved up at the Bella Vista, the senior complex in the Heights.
Candidate with rocker and with campaign volunteer Hilary Opperman.
“Three, four, five times a day for a fire truck to go to Bella Vista? [That’s] thousands of bucks a day.”
Elicker nodded in understanding, and he and Torcello concluded their transaction.
How was the passing press to interpret the purchase?
“The day after I win, I’ll take a little break. And the day after I win I’m only going to sit for ten minutes, because there’s a lot to do,” Elicker said.
Then he hoisted his new rocking chair on his head and walked it back to his nearby parked car.
Just wanted to add - this was a complete coincidence. Justin was out campaigning and about to buy the chair, when Allen rode by on his bike!