Badge Board in Union Square Subway Station. March 31, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
On the subway platform at Union Square, we came across a vendor with this colorful badge board. Groucho Marxist, Straight But Not Narrow, Born This Way, Whatever! Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Haile Selassie. The badge board man –as his profession used to be called–said he began selling the buttons in Union Square after losing his job. The chance encounter brought back memories of my father, who liked to say that he was a jack of all trades and a master of none. Before he got into the carnival business, one of his trades was selling buttons with funny sayings and novelties at fairs and parades. This miniature black velvet badge board was created with some old buttons that turned up after he died. Let’s Jazz, How Do You Get That Way, Don’t Monkey With Me, Kiss Me Kid I’m Sweet.
Dad’s Badge Board Recreated. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
Related posts on ATZ…
December 31, 2012: Memoirs of a Carny Kid: The Land of Prizes
September 26, 2012: Poetry from the Terminal Hotel by Charles Chaim Wax
May 8, 2012: Coney Island Prize of the Day: Leggy Lamp
April 13, 2012: Photo of the Day: Catch 1 Ball Win This Prize
Amusing the Zillion 
That’s a wonderful memory, Tricia. Hawking vendors is something I feel a kinship with … having been a street vendor in Manhattan for three years, telling myself it was a nifty way to suppliment my income while I went to school and raised two kids. What it really was, was the most challenging and interesting time of my life. Thanks for your memory and bringing me back to mine :)