The Almeda fire that roared through Talent and Phoenix on September 7 has devastated the lives of several Lithia Artisan members and their families. Along with our community at large, they’re reeling from the impact. To help those artists who’ve lost nearly everything, we’ll be telling their stories over the coming days while providing ways you can help them recover.
Fabric artist Kris Daly was immersed in her work preparing the newest items for sale at the Lithia Artisans Market. Against all odds, Kris’s market season had been flourishing despite—or perhaps because of—the pandemic. With her keen eye for cool prints and color schemes, her new line of face masks were an instant hit, accounting for about half her sales.
Absorbed by her work, it was only when her neighbors alerted her to an emergency evacuation text message that Kris became aware of the looming danger. In the next four hours, what would become known as the Almeda fire would race from the northern outskirts of Ashland to the edge of Medford leaving much of Talent and Phoenix in charred ruins.
Right after her neighbors’ warning, Kris got a call from her ex saying he and his truck were on the way to help her evacuate along with the most important pieces from her lifetime collection of art and her home quilting business supplies.
But that was not to be. Brian, her still-amicable ex, couldn’t gain access to the fire zone. Meanwhile, in a daze, Kris tried to decide what she should try and rescue beyond essentials like clothes, her laptop and newly acquired hearing aids. A lifetime’s worth of collecting all manner of artful things made the process pretty much impossible.
Kris’s amazing way with colors and prints creates an inviting textile womb in her show booth.
A getaway interrupted
In the midst of stuffing her car with as much as it could possibly hold, she realized that neither of the neighbors who had alerted her were drivers. With sheriff’s deputies yelling for Kris and her passengers to leave now, she emptied out her car to make space. “I thought I’d be going back.” Kris recalls thinking as they navigated through thick traffic with propane tanks exploding around them.
It was only later that the losses began sinking in. The immense stash of amazing fabrics Kris had accumulated over the years. Her sewing machines and workshop packed with equipment. Family heirloom quilts and Persian rugs, paintings and posters. All irreplaceable and all irretrievably gone.
Hunkered down at her ex’s rural home, Kris waited for news about the fate of her home. Initial misinformation gave her hope that it might have survived, only to have those hopes dashed on social media later in the evening. To complicate matters, the power was cut at Brian’s house disabling his well.
Angels began to appear
Soon after, a former employer and friend of Kris’s offered her the use of their spacious vacation home just outside Ashland while she picks up the pieces. With their okay to reconfigure the house the way she needs it to resume her fabric crafting, Kris has lost no time gathering up new tools, machines, and fabric.
In the days since the fire, she‘s been largely focused on the herculean effort of rebuilding a life from scratch. She acknowledges that the losses haven’t fully sunk in yet, but she’s already looking toward the future and a craft practice reborn from the ashes.
After interviewing her for this post we chatted on for a few minutes. “It was only stuff,” Kris reflected in summing up the experience, but she hastened to add, “I am going to get counseling!”
As Kris processes her grief over the loss of so many meaningful things, her friends at Lithia Artisans Market hope the community at large can help her work through this devastating time. Her daughter has created a Facebook page here, where you can make a donation to help with Kris’s recovery.