Rae O’Grady, who opened her new salon, Summit 26 Hair Design, on Tuesday, April 25, will always remember who her first client was; her five-year-old granddaughter, Allison.

“I am super excited,” O’Grady said. “My family has been very supportive in my decision to open a
shop.”

O’Grady, who moved to Rhododendron last May, is no stranger to working
magic on hair. She attended cosmetology school in 2000, and spent 17 years
cutting, coloring and caring for do’s, including having a shop years ago.

She noted that she loves the relationships she builds with her clients, which
included one of her first clients ever that became her best friend. For
approximately six years, the friend would travel to Oregon from Idaho (or
sometimes bring O’Grady to Idaho) just to have O’Grady do her hair.

Her salon will offer everything from cuts and colors to men’s, women’s and
children’s haircuts, and hair products for sale, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Tuesday
through Saturday (and evenings by appointment). O’Grady noted that her
philosophy includes that people shouldn’t be afraid of trying a new color,
because she knows how to make it work no matter what.

“I love all the challenges and the creativity involved with hair color,” she said.
“I think the most important thing of hair color is there’s nothing you can’t fix.”
O’Grady noted that work on the shop started about a month before opening,
with work going down to the sheetrock to build the salon up from scratch with
everything new.

She added that she’s excited for all the foot traffic at the location and that her
niece came up with the name as homage to being so close to Mount Hood.

“It just clicked and I love it,” O’Grady said. “I think it’s a great little place. I
am so excited; it’s been a long haul.”

A grand opening celebration will be held from 10-11 a.m. on Saturday, May 6,
with snacks, juice, coffee and a drawing to win a free haircut. She will also
offer a May special of $10 off a haircut and color.

Summit 26 Hair Design is located at 68216 Hwy. 26 in the Thriftway shopping
center. For more information, visit www.Summit26hairdesign.com or find it on
Facebook by searching for Summit 26 Hair Design.

‘Sandlandia’ food cart court ready to serve
Brightwood’s Jerry Carlson has been around business most of his life, starting
off as a freshman in high school and working for the family car business in
Sandy, working up from cleaning the floors and toilets to serving as the new
car manager and putting together advertising.

But Carlson noted that the hours required to work at the dealership meant he
missed out on a lot, which lead him to get involved with commercial property.
His latest endeavor is “Sandlandia,” a food cart court in Sandy that will have
space for 10 food carts, plus a few parking spaces, picnic tables and facilities.
“I want to make it nice, I want it to be fun,” Carlson said, adding that the
name was a spinoff of the television show “Portlandia.”

Carlson noted that the property where the court is located has been in his
family for years, with a number of restaurants utilizing the small building that
was previously there. He put it up for sale, but started thinking of alternatives
to selling it and that’s when his idea struck.

“I kind of want to be on the (food cart) wave,” Carlson said.

Now two years into his project, Carlson expected to have carts open in late
April, with carts open for breakfast and as late as they can stay open until,
including offerings such as fresh seafood, sliders, gyros, macaroni and cheese,
crepes and fish and chips.

He plans on making sure that the main dishes offered by the carts do not
overlap and that customers can enjoy a range of different foods.

Carlson added that he never went to a food cart court prior to embarking on
this endeavor, but he did visit one in Happy Valley, where he picked up some
good pointers on how to run Sandlandia.

“Those guys are paying huge money for spaces,” he said. “That many carts,
they’re competing to make money. It’s not what I wanted.”
Carlson noted that he went “above and beyond” to keep expenses down so
that carts could succeed at the location, which he sees as a perfect spot for

local residents and motorists travelling through to ski, hike and more on
Mount Hood.

“Now you can stop on your way, grab something to eat, everybody’s got their
spot they can run to,” he said. “I think it’s just going to be awesome for
everybody driving by. There’s food here that’ll be good for them.”

Sandlandia is located at 38440 Pioneer Blvd. For more information, visit
www.Sandlandia.net.