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Owliday market
Aug. 15th, 2021 09:29 pmSaturday Market's third Twilight Market was Saturday. I'd missed the second--it corresponded with the Club Mud parking lot sale. I probably would have missed this one as well--it's a hellacious long day--but with Anacortes last weekend, Silverton next, I really didn't feel I could skip out three weeks running.
So I packed up my battery and inverter, hung the shop light from the canopy, and settled in for the duration.
In honor of the Twilight Market, I put out all my owls: great horned, spotted, saw-whet. Other than that, it was my usual mix of birds and beasts, running heavily towards cute. (Even the shark mug is smiling.)
There were a lot of empty spaces: not a lot of vendors in the lottery, and many missing reserve vendors. Some, like Danny from Barbarian Pottery, were up in Junction City at Scandinavian Festival. Others just didn't want to brave the heat--projected in the high 90s again, with some smoke and haze. My booth space is shaded by a big magnolia tree (that I've watched grow from a small magnolia tree over 25 years), so I stay fairly comfortable. I also brought a lot of water, at least half of which was frozen at the beginning. Should have brought an extra cooler, though, to slow the rate of thaw.
Crowds were thin, but sales were steady. I sold a lot of mid-twenty-dollar range things: mugs, bowls, desserts, tumblers. A few dinner plates, a small squared baker, and stegosaurus bank to a mother and son. He'd seen the banks first, pointed them out to her, and she really fell for the frog bank. Tried to convince him she should get it, but I knew it was a lost cause. His heart was set on stegosaur, and he was vocal about it. I finally assured her that I'd just made a dozen more frogs in the last firing, so I'd not run out of them soon.
Because of the recent spike in Delta cases, the governor reinstated the indoor mask mandate Friday. We being an outdoor Market, weren't required to participate, but based on the relative numbers of masked versus unmasked customers, I decided I'd mask up too. I also have a small mask I've sewn for my teddy bear, so he was also modeling good public health behavior.
Because I didn't have a neighbor to the east, a little girl spotted him from two booths a way. Daddy, look at the funny bear with a mask! she said. Stopped in front of my booth to wave, and called out again to Dad. He was already to the corner, came back to take her hand and hurry her along, as she kept trying to get him to see the bear. He never did look, and she kept repeating Daddy, look at the funny bear with a mask! around the corner and down the sidewalk until the stone wall blocked her view.
Made my heart hurt. Would it have taken so much of his precious time to pause five seconds and acknowledge something she'd seen and wanted to share? Some people should have their parenting licenses revoked.
Much later, in the last half hour of Twilight, I heard it again: Look at the funny bear with the mask! This time said by another little girl, with a stuffed kitty who was wearing a fetching pink pearl collar. This time, mom and dad did look, and then looked at the pottery, while I introduced her to my bear, Paddy. Turns out her kitty didn't have a name yet, so we discussed possibilities, and she decided on Ping Pong, which both parents agreed was the way they both bounced around. Oh, and they bought a mug.
Saturday Market officially ended at 4 pm; Twilight began at 6. Only 35 vendors signed up to stay, and only two food booths. I'd run into the lack of choice last June, so this time I bought my supper at 3:30, a combination plate from Afghan Shish-Kebab, and asked Abdul to put it in a take-out box, which kept it reasonably warm until I ate it at 5. Traffic continued thin but steady, looked like a lot of folks had come over from Pride in the Park. Made some sales, and a big special order got picked up. Near the end, a woman who'd stopped in earlier came back, bought two mugs and two pie plates for me to ship to her in California. Took her address and phone--to call her with the shipping charge--and tucked them safely in a box to take home again.
Turned my lights on at 7:30, an hour earlier than last June, and by 8:30 it was quite dark on my corner, away from the street lights. A homeless man asked if he could charge his phone. My first reaction was no, I'm on limited battery power, but then I thought, why the hell not? There's a second outlet on the inverter, so I helped him hook up, and offered him a chocolate-chip cookie. He said thanks, and that it was a very good cookie, and when he learned I'd baked it, offered an elbow bump. Came back and collected his phone at about 8:45, at which point the music had stopped, and I decided I may as well start packing up. Finally left at about five past 10 pm, and was so tired driving home that I missed the newly built exit from Delta Highway to River Road. Briefly considered making an illegal left at the light where the temporary detour had been, but thought better of it, turned right to do a U-Turn in the Goodwill parking lot. As I was turning, a Eugene Police car, lights and siren going, came up the road and made the exact turn I didn't, so I dodged at least a traffic ticket, if not a rear-ending.
Was surprised when I finally added up the tally--made over $800 in regular hours, another $300-some on the late shift, $1150 total.
So I packed up my battery and inverter, hung the shop light from the canopy, and settled in for the duration.
In honor of the Twilight Market, I put out all my owls: great horned, spotted, saw-whet. Other than that, it was my usual mix of birds and beasts, running heavily towards cute. (Even the shark mug is smiling.)
There were a lot of empty spaces: not a lot of vendors in the lottery, and many missing reserve vendors. Some, like Danny from Barbarian Pottery, were up in Junction City at Scandinavian Festival. Others just didn't want to brave the heat--projected in the high 90s again, with some smoke and haze. My booth space is shaded by a big magnolia tree (that I've watched grow from a small magnolia tree over 25 years), so I stay fairly comfortable. I also brought a lot of water, at least half of which was frozen at the beginning. Should have brought an extra cooler, though, to slow the rate of thaw.
Crowds were thin, but sales were steady. I sold a lot of mid-twenty-dollar range things: mugs, bowls, desserts, tumblers. A few dinner plates, a small squared baker, and stegosaurus bank to a mother and son. He'd seen the banks first, pointed them out to her, and she really fell for the frog bank. Tried to convince him she should get it, but I knew it was a lost cause. His heart was set on stegosaur, and he was vocal about it. I finally assured her that I'd just made a dozen more frogs in the last firing, so I'd not run out of them soon.
Because of the recent spike in Delta cases, the governor reinstated the indoor mask mandate Friday. We being an outdoor Market, weren't required to participate, but based on the relative numbers of masked versus unmasked customers, I decided I'd mask up too. I also have a small mask I've sewn for my teddy bear, so he was also modeling good public health behavior.
Because I didn't have a neighbor to the east, a little girl spotted him from two booths a way. Daddy, look at the funny bear with a mask! she said. Stopped in front of my booth to wave, and called out again to Dad. He was already to the corner, came back to take her hand and hurry her along, as she kept trying to get him to see the bear. He never did look, and she kept repeating Daddy, look at the funny bear with a mask! around the corner and down the sidewalk until the stone wall blocked her view.
Made my heart hurt. Would it have taken so much of his precious time to pause five seconds and acknowledge something she'd seen and wanted to share? Some people should have their parenting licenses revoked.
Much later, in the last half hour of Twilight, I heard it again: Look at the funny bear with the mask! This time said by another little girl, with a stuffed kitty who was wearing a fetching pink pearl collar. This time, mom and dad did look, and then looked at the pottery, while I introduced her to my bear, Paddy. Turns out her kitty didn't have a name yet, so we discussed possibilities, and she decided on Ping Pong, which both parents agreed was the way they both bounced around. Oh, and they bought a mug.
Saturday Market officially ended at 4 pm; Twilight began at 6. Only 35 vendors signed up to stay, and only two food booths. I'd run into the lack of choice last June, so this time I bought my supper at 3:30, a combination plate from Afghan Shish-Kebab, and asked Abdul to put it in a take-out box, which kept it reasonably warm until I ate it at 5. Traffic continued thin but steady, looked like a lot of folks had come over from Pride in the Park. Made some sales, and a big special order got picked up. Near the end, a woman who'd stopped in earlier came back, bought two mugs and two pie plates for me to ship to her in California. Took her address and phone--to call her with the shipping charge--and tucked them safely in a box to take home again.
Turned my lights on at 7:30, an hour earlier than last June, and by 8:30 it was quite dark on my corner, away from the street lights. A homeless man asked if he could charge his phone. My first reaction was no, I'm on limited battery power, but then I thought, why the hell not? There's a second outlet on the inverter, so I helped him hook up, and offered him a chocolate-chip cookie. He said thanks, and that it was a very good cookie, and when he learned I'd baked it, offered an elbow bump. Came back and collected his phone at about 8:45, at which point the music had stopped, and I decided I may as well start packing up. Finally left at about five past 10 pm, and was so tired driving home that I missed the newly built exit from Delta Highway to River Road. Briefly considered making an illegal left at the light where the temporary detour had been, but thought better of it, turned right to do a U-Turn in the Goodwill parking lot. As I was turning, a Eugene Police car, lights and siren going, came up the road and made the exact turn I didn't, so I dodged at least a traffic ticket, if not a rear-ending.
Was surprised when I finally added up the tally--made over $800 in regular hours, another $300-some on the late shift, $1150 total.