What would an International Liaison Educator for the International Association of Educators for World Peace, and a Nutritionist and Cosmetologist do when they moved into a small town in Northern California? This was the question that was asked by Willard Van De Bogart and Leila Fugazzi when they moved to Middletown, California in January of 1993.

Willard and Leila left San Francisco to live in a small town where there was a lot of nature, and a small community so as to participate on a first name basis with the people they were living with. Both brought with them their individual expertise and training. Willard earned his Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Ohio University, and a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, as well as Masters work in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Leila earned her Bachelors Degree in Nutritional Science from the University of New Mexico, and completed a nutrition/dietetics internship at Cornel Medical School in New York City.Lifestyle became their biggest concern. Leila with a 3 year old daughter, Sophia, wanted an environment that could teach her child the ways of nature, and Willard wanted a town where he could help people enrich their lives, and provide new educational ideas about peace and education.

When they saw an old gas station in the middle of downtown Middletown it was instantly seen as a perfect location to initiate their ideas. Contact was made with Jack Kenny, the owner, who had not rented the old gas station for over 20 years. Jack told them that MacDonalds, and the 7 Eleven store chains wanted the corner to do their business. Jack, however, was more interested in preserving the small town flavor of Middletown, he said, and did not want a large fast food chain to use the corner. Jack, was the former publisher and editor of the Middletown Times and Star, and knew Middletown more intimately than a lot of people. When he learned that Willard and Leila wanted to contribute to the town he rented the gas station to them in less than two hours, gave them his blessings, and the next day flew to Russia to help provide a better standard of living for the Russian people by introducing to them new products that would enhance their lives.

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And what exactly was it Willard and Leila were going to do in the middle of Middletown with a store called the Portal Market? The way they saw it the Portal Market would be half trading post and half community center. With the 21st century only a few short years away, and with the uncertainty of a changing economy, their belief was that there had to be a market that would address the immediate concerns of a small community.

With so many displaced people in the work force Willard and Leila saw the talents of the community with their crafts, home baked goods, special training talents, and more, to help serve and educate all members of the community. What does this mean for the Portal Market? In the Portal Market there would be a special children's room where there would be new books on spiritual parenting, and special toys and food stuffs that would aid in a child's growth. Already there were plans to invite a well know children's story teller to the market called "Sherry the Fairy" who had her own store in Berkeley called The Moon and Star. Story telling is an ancient art, and other story tellers from the community were going to be invited to give their special presentations which represented much of the regional folk lure such as the Pomo Indians, and Robert Louis Stevenson's stories. Fugazzi had been researching ways children could best be served to continue their imaginations that were being dulled by a constant overdose of television. Jack had also indicated that the theater in the main building, behind the gas station, could eventually be used as a small evening performance center. This would of provided an ideal location for small music groups and local theater productions all coordinated by the Portal Market.

Van De Bogart's involvement with the Non-Governmental organization (NG0) within the United Nations afforded the community world wide contacts to set up letter exchange programs with other children to exchange ideas about foreign cultures. Products would also be sold that would give new access to natural items that would be pesticide and chemically free. Many people all over the country were packaging new foods and health products that are often times less expensive than traditional products, and a lot more helpful.

The Portal Market would further aim at assisting the Middletown community in keeping its economy at home. This concept is referred to as a "bio-regional free zone economy" where local organic growers, artisans, crafts people, and small manufactures could all have a local outlet for their efforts. The Portal Market would buy as many products as possible which would be generated in the community, follow the guide lines of the Portal Market, and represent other products from around the country, and the world, where the proceeds would go into helping other people with their local economies, and bio-regions.

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One example was to sell coffee from the company called Equal Exchange. Equal Exchange works with small scale third World farmers to help them gain more control over the market as well as getting more fair market price. Ben and Jerry's Ice cream would also be offered where the proceeds would go into helping the rain forest and baskets made by local Indian groups. A variety of breads that were being baked by many small bakeries all over California were going to be offered at the Portal Market. One bread product was Vital Vittles which has all natural ingredients, and there were many more breads to chose from.

Many saw a small sign in the front window saying "Tea Room", and a bright yellow sun hanging in front of the store. The Tea Room was going to be a place where people from the community could come together to talk, rest, and exchange ideas. Plans were already underway where fine English imported teas would be coming from London.Six years later (1999) the Portal Market would open the Virtual Tea Store and offer a complete line of teapots and fine imported teas from China. The vision came true.

The main logo for the Portal Market was the sun with an unusual face in the center. The face was a symbol taken from the Mayan glyph representing the Sun. With Middletown having so much sun it was felt to be an appropriate symbol. The name Portal signifies a place of coming and going. Middletown is the first town entered when driving North into Lake County, and also the last town to leave when going south out of Lake County. It was only fitting that a Market in the middle of town be as beautiful as possible as the main port of entry into Lake County. Lake County is known for its natural beauty, and it was seen as a time to remove the debris at the gas station, to act as a symbol of the true natural beauty that Middletown represented with Mt St. Helena in the background.Therefore, the Portal Market was going to conduct a beautification program where plants, trees and flowers would be grown through out the property. The ideas for a community tree was even underway where a tree ceremony would of been held. The tree would be planted inside the property to act as a symbol for growth and the honoring of nature. There were going to be umbrella tables where people could sit in the open garden area and have a cold tea and some health food items.

Since Willard and Leila were new renters to an old property they had to abide by all the new laws established by the Lake County Planning Department. With his own Macintosh computer Willard drew all the architectural plans for the planning department as there were no plans on file. The Lake County Planning Department was very understaffed, and before a certificate to do business could of been issued the planning department had to review the plans. Willard was told by Mark Philips, the principal planner of the planning department, that to meet all the requirements should not be that difficult. One new law created at the planning department was that no sign could be posted on the roof. Although many businesses in Middletown did have signs on the roof that was because the property was owned before the new law went into effect. The rest rooms that were on the property flowed into a septic tank, and Jack Kenny had filed for a permit to use the Middletown sewer line when and if was installed. It was unknown if these toliets could be used by the public.

Allan Williams of Middletown, CA.

And where would all the money come from to do such a venture? Willard and Leila had put their own money into the Portal Market. However, there were also several members of the community, such as Allan Williams, who had contributed money to pay for some of the fees incurred by the county. According to Willard and Leila this showed real community support.

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And how would the Portal Market help the community financially? Willard said that he would put the Portal Market earnings into needy community activities. In this way all of the community would be helped. Willard and Leila had hoped this kind of action would encourage other merchants to put back into the community resources that could not be met by any other means.

Would it work? Both seemed to think so as a result of the many dozens of people that had already offered their services. Willard and Leila also planned on having dinner parties at their home in Hidden Valley to raise money for the Portal Market, spread the gospel of community service, and a new way to help everyone have a part of something that everyone would see when they came to Middletown, a small town, that could become an example of what people could do when they worked together. All, and any support was extremely helpful, and people were encouraged to come down and introduce themselves and chip in.

This dream shattered when Jack Kenny returned from his two month Russian trip. Jack decided that he wanted to sell his property rather than lease it, and seeing as there was no time for a lease agreement before he left, the fate of the Portal Market was sealed. Leila had decided to move into an ashram and follow the work of Ronald Lloyd Spencer. Willard was wondering what to do next.

Portal Market History Part II - The Portal Market goes on-line.