If you've ever been to Carkeek Park on a sunny afternoon, you've probably met me.

My name is Garry Golightly and I'm Bubbleman of Seattle. For 45 years I've shown up for people with nothing but a pocket full of soap and a devotion to making people smile. I painted a 400-square-foot piano keyboard onto the crosswalk at Carkeek Park by hand — four twelve-hour days, repainted it four times over the years. I built chandellabras out of recycled six-pack rings. I make bubble props that take three months to finish. Performing is how I make my living — but it's never been about the money. It's about what happens when a bubble floats into a child's hands. "Bubbles are a universal language," I always say. "Like music."

On April 5, 2026, my van was stolen from the Holman Road QFC parking lot. Inside was everything — every handmade prop, every chandellabra, my tools, my brand-new quarts of paint. The van has since been recovered — but everything inside it was gone. The props I spent months building, the tools I've had for years, the paint I'd just bought. The van came back empty.

I'm 73. I live in low-income housing. I've lost feeling in my legs to neuropathy and can't walk 100 feet without my stick. I have less money now than I did 20 years ago. None of that has stopped me. I'm not rich, I'm not crippled, I'm not angry — but I'm still able to do a bubble show. I feel compelled. I've got to bring joy out there somehow. I want to make children laugh.

We're raising $10,000 to help me get back on my feet. Roughly half will go toward replacing the stolen supplies and props — materials, tools, paint, and rebuilding the chandellabras, some of which took days to make by hand. The rest will cover ongoing medical expenses and give me some breathing room while I rebuild. I've given Seattle decades of free shows. People come up to me 20 years later and say "you were at my sixth birthday — I never forgot you." I've turned my apartment into an art studio because I can't stop creating.

I've given this Seattle everything I have. If Bubbleman ever made you smile, this is your chance to return it.

— Garry "Bubbleman" Golightly

Campaign organized with support from Jason Surh, a Seattle media producer