Coming up

For a piece of history, go to the north end of the demolition site from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 29 or May 13.

They lined up on foot and in a makeshift drive-through for a piece of the Kingdome because they loved the Kingdome once - they saw their first game there or met the man they'd marry.

They wanted big pieces for gardens and little ones for tables. They wanted colored pieces with paint from the top level and chunks with rebar. They wanted tiny pieces to airmail and flat ones to paint.

Some took the first piece they got, while others hovered, waiting for the perfect piece to magically appear from the rubble.

Kathy Bense of Gig Harbor got a tiny blue piece for a friend's birthday present and a piece with metal for her daughter. Frania Black of Bellevue got a compact piece for her son's nursery, and Susan McKinney of Tukwila got a big one she intends to carve into a tiny replica of the Kingdome. John Seth of Seattle simply took as many as he could carry.

"It's a clever and cheap way to get it all hauled away," said Tom Christensen as he and his wife, Lorna, negotiated for just-so chunks to send to their kids in the Air Force. "Just get a bunch of yahoo Seattleites to come out and take the rocks away."

Elaine Varwig of Federal Way took home a little-red wagonload of rocks. She met the man who would become her husband at the Dome years ago when he was a guard at Gate E and she arrived with three of her three older kids for a game.

"We met, started talking, fell in love and married one year later," she said. "The Dome was filled with memories for us. It was a part of our lives."

Katrina Bartlett, who took home an armful of the concrete chunks, loved it, too. She took her family to the Dome for home shows, ballgames and religious crusades. She loved it most because no matter where her family went, by plane or by car, they always knew they'd returned when they saw the Dome.

"You could see it from the sky, and you knew you were home," she said.

Christine Clarridge's phone message number is 206-464-8983. Her e-mail address is cclarridge@seattletimes.com.