Dean McCabe, who lives with his family in the Tosa East Towne neighborhood, is a fourth-grader, a Cub Scout, a Lego fan and, when Christmastime draws near, a budding entrepreneur. The holiday season is when he and his dad, Colin McCabe, get out the tools and box of supplies and begin taking on jobs, mostly at the request of relatives and neighbors.
Their line of work: ornament repair.
And Dean, at 10 years old, has already figured out the secret to their business' success. "We try to do the best we can," he said. "Our motto is, it's already broken. We can't make it worse."
Kidding aside, Dean likes to fix things, and they have a pretty good track record of satisfied customers. Some customers may open boxes of ornaments and realize something broke in storage, or maybe the cat knocked something off the tree with a smash. Missing arms and legs are common problems.
That snowman that lost its nose and feet? An easy fix with glue. That Santa ornament with a missing leg? Dean gladly took the job and repaired it by giving Santa a peg leg. That ceramic ornament missing its top? Dean and his dad dug into their supplies to patch it up while also deploying a 3D printer for a precision fix. Others repairs involve creating new pieces with clay molds.
Sometimes Dean's siblings help out. One sister helped paint a replacement piece for a bear with a broken paw. Their solution: Give that bear an Infinity Gauntlet, like a character from a Marvel movie scene that got lost on the cutting room floor.
"With the owner's permission," Colin clarified.
Dean and Colin McCabe discussed their seasonal business with Tosa Forward News during an interview at Idyll Coffee Roasters on North Avenue. They were on their way to delivering a finished repair to one of their neighbors but were happy to take a few minutes discussing their shared passion for elf-caliber creative work.
"I just really like to put together stuff," Dean said. When asked what he calls the business, he said he initially thought Dean & Company sounded good but then figured Dean & Dad & Company would be more accurate.
Colin McCabe works in software design, but he also likes creating handmade crafts, something that he misses in his day job. Helping Dean with the ornament repairs gives him a chance to work with his hands while spending quality time with his son. "It's so much fun," he said. "I really enjoy doing it with him."
Proceeds from the business wouldn't light up any North Pole, but the McCabes do make a few bucks. For ordinary ornament repairs, they charge $3. Ceramic repairs cost $5. By the time they met for an interview with Tosa Forward News in mid December, they had completed about a half dozen jobs, and they were open to new customers and challenging requests.
They started the business a couple years ago, after Dean participated in a "Kidpreneur" program hosted by Cloud 9 Workshop, which is owned and operated by another Tosa East Towne resident, Kelcey Kalumbula.
That experience gave Dean early inspiration for both craft work and business basics. "It sort of got [Dean's] gears turning," Colin McCabe said. "It was really neat."
Now the McCabes' friends, family and neighbors are so eager to have Dean work on their ornaments that they joke they might start breaking them on purpose. He and his dad advise potential customers not to do that.
In fact, although an ounce of prevention may undercut Dean's business plan, he had thoughts on how to protect tree ornaments.
"Maybe put it up farther from your pets, so they don't break," he said.
- David Paulsen, a Tosa East Towne resident and editor of Tosa Forward News, has more than 25 years of experience as a professional journalist. He can be reached at editor@tosanews.com.
