By Brenda L. Holmes
PLAINFIELD — David “the tie guy” Brinker says tie season begins the day after Halloween and runs through the end of the year.
“But I have other holiday ties like one for Cinco de Mayo and Fourth of July,” he said. “I can go between two to three months without wearing the same tie.”
Brinker is a circulation employee at the Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library. He began collecting ties after he received a tie adorned with Christmas tree lights.
“It started about five or six years ago,” he said. “It was a gift I got for Christmas and it just kind of grew from there.”
Many of Brinker’s ties were given to him as gifts but he has also started purchasing silly ties everywhere he travels and on the web.
“Many of them come from www.wildties.com,” he said. “It’s kind of a neat conversation starter. It makes it kind of fun.”
He said he would love for the website to get more exposure because he has found some really fun ties there. The website is currently running a special offering a free Valentine’s Day tie with all purchases over $25.
Brinker has worked at the library for eight years.
“I started here right out of high school,” he said. “There’s no better place to be.”
He graduated from Plainfield High School in 2002.
Brinker said he’s not really an avid book reader but being in circulation helps him know what all the current popular titles are.
“I can be walking through the airport and see someone with a book and think ‘yeah, that’s what they are reading now,’” he said. “I’m an avid fan of Monk so I like reading the Monk books. I like to read about inventions or things like the Guinness Book of Records.”
He said his tie collection has sparked a lot of conversation with the library patrons and staff.
“They decided they should do a display with my ties,” Brinker said. “I now have 80 plus ties. I think my favorite right now is a duct tape tie my 14-year-old cousin made for me.”
Donna Bissonnette was in charge of putting the display together and Laura Appleby did a caricature of Brinker to go with it.
Brinker said it’s been fun letting people know about his collection.
“I think the oddest one is the rubber chicken tie,” he said. “I do have some ties that I got while traveling. The one of the Eiffel Tower is from when I went there and the Tower of London came from when I went to London.”
He said he’s also partial to his Disney ties because he enjoys visiting Disney World.
“It’s the best place in the world to be,” he said.
He has one tie from the Art Institute in Chicago.
“The tie looks exactly like one of the paintings there,” he said. “But then again, many of them are just from Wal-mart.”
Brinker’s ties will be on display at the Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library through March.
brenda.holmes@flyergroup.com
