Holiday, Holiday, Holiday Market

At last, a moment to get back to the blog! Behind every hour of fun at Holiday Market, there are several hours of work by everyone involved, both Market staff and Market artisans. That's over 300 people working all week long to bring our sweet and lively Marketplace into being every weekend. Somehow this season, blogging hasn't squeezed into any of those hours. Toward the end of the Market run, we get caught up and have a bit of time, and I hate to neglect any of my Market story telling opportunities... so here's an abbreviated glance at the Market season so far.

There have been choirs


and handcrafts,


sock monkeys


and steam punks,


leopards


and even a Kitty (giving an award for microenterprise development to Market Manager Beth),


and the general swirl and whirl of commerce occurring in the most essential fashion. Folks spending their money for beautiful things, valuing the labor of their friends, neighbors and community members by keeping our money in our own city. The Market has been busy and happy so far this season, and as we head toward the holidays it will only be moreso. We head into our last five Market days with plenty of holiday cheer to share. We'll be open Saturday and Sunday this weekend from 10-6, and then next Thursday and Friday 10-6 and Saturday, Christmas eve, 10-4. If you'd like to find out more about who is selling, or who is playing on the stage, or get some gift ideas, head over to holidaymarket.org and then head to the Fairgrounds at 12th & Jefferson and be a part of a wonderful tradition!

Here's a slide show of pics from this year's Market so far:

Several Saturday Markets Later: More Than A Little Catching Up!

October was gorgeous this year, wasn't it? We were blessed with sunny Saturdays and plenty of activity. So much so that keeping up on the blog inched off the bottom of my ever-blossoming to do list. It happens like that this time of year, as Saturday Market and the impending Holiday Market both need time and attention. This afternoon I find my self with a smidgen of time to get caught up, and look back at a few highlights of the last month.

Way back on the 8th, we all loved The Dick Danger Band


and Satori Bob was great too. (This is not Bob, this is John the guitar player. Satori Bob is the band)


Then on the 15th we found ourselves at the heart of the Occupy Eugene movement, as a couple thousand folks took a long walk through town and ended up spending a week camping at the Park Blocks.


I took a break, and missed the 22nd. I was in Minneapolis, riding around on these cool public shared bikes. That is one big bike loving town!


We celebrated the season on the 29th with crazy costumes,



and over 5,000 pumpkins in Kesey Plaza!


Then, suddenly, November...


But Marketeers and Market-goers came out and shopped, ate, danced, visited, laughed, and generally made a Market day out of what could have been just a cold, dreary one. And anybody that got to enjoy the music of Janet, Taj, Richie G, Ma Beat, Lauren, Savanna, Felix, Brandelyn, and the rest of Blue Lotus, was lucky indeed. These musicians (and Magic Levin too) played just like it was a gorgeous, sunny, jam packed day.

One more to go, friends and neighbors, and then we'll tuck this season in at the end of Saturday and spring up warm, dry, and ready to go at the Fairgrounds on the 19th for Holiday Market. Do stop by if you can, there's something special about the Last Market of the Year.

Saturday Markets #26 & 27: Saturday Market is People

I've been working on collecting photos for this year's Holiday Market poster for the past couple of weeks. This means I've been making a more concerted effort to get out and about and visit with the craftspeople of Saturday Market. Every one of them is innovative, talented, motivated, creative and (lucky for me) photogenic! I do my behind-the-scenes part every week to help keep the Market going, but I want you to meet a few of the people that really make it happen! Without the dedication of all the Saturday Marketeers, we'd have no unique, groovy, vibrant, forty-two-years-running celebration of all that is Eugene.


This is Kendra Brock. She up-cycles t-shirts into cool, clever dresses, among other things.


Cathy Coulson-Keegan is a self-proclaimed Very Old Hippie who creates beautiful Asian influenced banners and lanterns. You can read more about her on our current Beautiful Booth of the Month page.
 

Catherine Imo uses fabrics to create collages that look more like paintings than collages.



Donna Crisp makes candles, including these classic old school style sand candles. Just like we used to make in the 70s, only much better.


Amy Palatnick (a.k.a. Amy the Potter) is a potter with a distinctive style. She makes all the kinds of dishes you need, and they are gorgeous.


Katharine Emlen is a nature photographer who specializes in macro (super close up) photograpy, so you can discover things you might have missed in the world around you. She also makes cool inspirational word magnets.


Jimmy Manigrossi is the pet tag man. His daughter Sierra Nunley-Gross is a life long Marketeer, who sells her mom's Holy Donuts at Market.


Pamela Pollock makes jewelry that I really want to own. It's big and dramatic but delicate and very, very up-to-date.


Amy Clancy's clothing and jewelry is entirely different than Pamela's and yet I want to own everything in her booth as well. She's got style!


Chris Clayworth does amazing things with polymer clay. His chromatic, dramatic work is a treat to look at.


Rae Kelley's incredibly adorable appliqued and embroidered baby clothes make me wish I had some little kids around to buy clothes for.


Amethyst, Jessica & Dotti have been my Market next-door neighbors for all of my twenty Market managing years, and tie-dyers for much longer than that. It takes special folks to be the gracious, tolerant neighbors of the busy, wacky Market stage.

So there they are, just a few of the very important people who ARE Saturday Market. Come on down and get to know them, every one of them has great tales to tell, and wonderful things to buy! See you Saturday...

Saturday Market #25: My September Wish List

Dear Universe,


I want this summer to last longer. I want to sing and dance and play carefree like the kids do when Rich Glauber gets them going.


I need more giant sunflowers to greet me as I contemplate my lunch choices.


I need a couple more nice Saturdays with plenty of time to spend chatting with Mary Lou Goertzen about her drawings and her life.


I'd really like to listen to another set from Jerry Zybach and Al Rivers.


Some more leisurely time to search for treasures amongst the booths on the west edge of the Market would be great, these little duckie finger puppets at Ingeborg Krebs' booth stole my heart,


and David Hansen's wooden wrist watches are so clever.


So if a wish granting sprite could just pop through the magic door at William Fleming's booth and grant my wishes, that would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, and just one more little wish... turn those orange harbingers of fall back to green and give me just a couple helpings of Summer.



Thanks and love,
Everybody at Saturday Market

Saturday Market #24: We've Got Good Bones

We've arrived at the season of sweet Saturdays filled with the slanty warm light of the late summer sun. It's also the season when we're cruising along without a whole lot of extra news or excitement to blog about. That means I'm going to really have to stretch to connect the dots and make a blog post. But I can do it! You see, I've had these photos I found in the basement sitting next to my desk for a few weeks, pictures from the very early days of Market. I've been meaning to get them into some digital form and post them. I've done that and now... to make a connection between last Saturday and the First Saturday.


Here are skeletons basking in that golden afternoon glow at Daniel Conan Young's booth at the corner of 8th & Oak last Saturday.


Here is Gil Dunaway, selling candles under an umbrella in the alley between what is now the Downtown Athletic Club and the Overpark, at the first Saturday Market on May 9, 1970.

What is the connection? Bones. Saturday Market has a good, strong set of bones inside it, built up by people like Gil, who still sells candles on Saturdays, rain or shine. Here are a few fun archival shots from our formative years.


Here's another photo from that first season, you can see the Overpark clearly on the left. At the time, there were restaurants and other businesses tucked in under the parking structure, so you can see how business folks might have been upset about all these "hippies" cluttering up the sidewalk.


In 1971 the Market spent the summer season selling on the plaza in front of the County Courthouse. I can barely remember when the courthouse had those space age curvy beams along the front of Harris Hall. They were remodeled away long ago.


Market's founder Lotte Streisinger did a lot to get a Farmers' Market going. They were part of the Market until the mid-80s when they became a separate organization. This photo is from 1978 or so, when the Market was on the "Butterfly" parking lot across the street from the Park Blocks.


Here's a view of the food court at that time, it was located at the north end of the parking lot. I think it's funny that except for the stylish plaid suit jacket in the corner, you couldn't really date the photo from what people are wearing. It could be last week. But the cookies and brownies at Loven Oven (the calzoni booth) were 50¢...


And here's David the Minstrel. I remember he used to sing a song with the chorus "don't shave your legs, don't wear deodorant..." David was still singing at Market a few years back before he moved away.

The crafters, the food booth folks, the musicians and the timelessly clad customers are the strong bones of our sweet Market, eternal thanks for your support! See you Saturday...

Saturday Market #22 & #23: In Search of Beauty & Newth

Although I spend a fair amount of my day at the stage, I do make an effort to get out and about and see what folks are making and selling. At the end of the month, I take a tour looking especially for the new goodies to post on the New Products Page on the Market's website, and someone to profile for the Beautiful Booth of the Month page.

Even after twenty years, I'm still just so impressed by what people make! I never have trouble finding lots of interesting, beautiful products to highlight.


Paula Free makes intricate, playful pendants from polymer clay and lots of other little things.


Carol Jeffries has at least 25 different skull prints on her rack of "doo rags".


Lucas Hough makes unique ceramic/glass wine glasses.


Claire Ernstsen hand draws designs on translucent shrinky plastic and makes earrings.


Courtney Fellet takes chain mail to another level with all kinds of delicate designs.


Julia Garretson uses her unique handmade papers to cover lightswitch covers.


Cliff Martin uses all sorts of discarded stuff to make fun mobiles.


Angela McDonald blends teas, and makes handmade tea bags.


Ben Silver's glass floats add a lot of color to the fountain.


Randall Beiderwell makes Oregon landscapes extra vibrant through HDR photo processing.


David Brady has crafted these beautiful wooden puzzle boxes to look like books.


Tarra Hartlauer's booth full of upcycled denim skirts and garden signs was my choice for Beautiful Booth of the Month.

That was all from two weeks back. I kept right on finding stuff worth highlighting last week too!


Like Mary Flowerday's clever take on the current feather earring craze - she's made feathers out of fabric.


I find Bob Walters' suspended rock book ends really fascinating and appealing.


And I loved learning that one of these ceramic magnets at Elise Corin's booth was made with the impression of a leaf from the tree above her booth. It's the one just to the left of the flower.

Now it's your turn, come on down and seek out the newth and beauty that abounds every Saturday! See you there...