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Grads and dads
Jun. 16th, 2024 09:19 pmWasn't sure what to expect at the Market this Saturday. The weather said anything from rain to brightness, and we had all of it. Every fifteen minutes.
It was drizzling when I got up at 6, though had largely stopped by the time I got in the van at 7. Cloudy downtown, but no actual rain, but I still put up sides, though rolled up out of the way, and stacked the empty boxes inside the booth. I'd suggested Denise stay home, so had a little extra space in back, though not a lot.
By 10 am, the sun was out, so I moved the boxes back out under the tree behind me, though I did throw some plastic over the stack. Clouds came and went, three raindrops, then sun, then breeze, then wind. A short, sharp shower hit just after noon, and I brought in the box stack that included Denise's paper, pulled down the east side walls, mostly because rain was bouncing off of my neighbor's booth and into mine. Fifteen minutes later, it stopped again, and was nice, though intermittently windy, the rest of the afternoon.
No track events this weekend, but lots of parents in town, for Graduation and/or Fathers Day. It was a pretty distinctive demographic, usually groups of three, parents and a twenty-something. Graduate? I'd ask, and nine times out of ten, I was right (the tenth were just in town visiting their undergrad for Father's Day). Sold them a lot of pottery, some bought by parents as graduation presents, others for themselves--kid had been giving them my work for Christmas or birthdays, so they picked out some more. (And in one case, a couple from St. Paul had been getting gifts from their mother in Eugene, and took the opportunity to check in on a visit to mom.) Couldn't think of any graduation-themed pottery, so I posted a bunch of dad pots to Instagram, rooster, lion, penguin dad and chick.
Always congratulated the new grads, and started asking their majors. Got Biology, Resource Ecology, Geology (my budding potter friend Nathan, there with folks, sister, and partner Erin), Planning & Public Policy Management, Product Design, Business (buying a panda baker for his grandma), Economics. Made a big sale to a family--four tumblers, four stew mugs, three of Denise's cards--who arranged to have me ship them back to Denver for them.
Had some folks just stop in to visit and see the new patterns; Michelle, who comes to town once a year, and has ordered in the past; and a kindergarten teacher whose name has escaped me, but face was familiar. She spent a good twenty minutes looking at everything new in the booth.
Favorite interaction was with two young women, obviously sisters, excitedly pointing out animals to each other in some unfamiliar language. From the harsh H's, I guessed Hebrew or Arabic; turned out to be the latter. They bought a cat food dish, later brought in an older woman I think was mom to show the work.
Chere was off driving the puppy rescue bus, bringing shelter dogs up from California to be adopted in the Northwest, so Judy and Paul were in her space, selling little leaded glass mini-beaches--sand, shells, driftwood bits, inside a pyramid or prism of glass.
Fun t-shirt of the day: Be yourself. They'll adjust.
We had a small protest march come through late afternoon, flying Pride banners and carrying signs like "Queers for Palestine." The chant leader with the megaphone was kinda incomprehensible; finally made out that they were saying "Hey hey, ho ho, Pinkwashing must go." Which didn't make a lot of sense to me, as I'm mostly familiar with the term when applied to businesses whose commitment to LGBTQIA issues mostly involve rainbow capitalism. I later found out it's also being used by the Israeli government, a sort of "Look how much better we treat you than they do." Confusing, I think, unless you're an insider.
Also confusing: this was the week the city opened two-way traffic on 8th Street, so all the Market vendors on that stretch had to come in from the opposite direction to park by their booths. Didn't affect me, thankfully, but my friends Robin and Sarah had an exciting morning.
Weather notwithstanding, a busy day, spectacular sales. I broke $1000, something that's only happened once before. Was very glad I did that catch-up firing this week.
It was drizzling when I got up at 6, though had largely stopped by the time I got in the van at 7. Cloudy downtown, but no actual rain, but I still put up sides, though rolled up out of the way, and stacked the empty boxes inside the booth. I'd suggested Denise stay home, so had a little extra space in back, though not a lot.
By 10 am, the sun was out, so I moved the boxes back out under the tree behind me, though I did throw some plastic over the stack. Clouds came and went, three raindrops, then sun, then breeze, then wind. A short, sharp shower hit just after noon, and I brought in the box stack that included Denise's paper, pulled down the east side walls, mostly because rain was bouncing off of my neighbor's booth and into mine. Fifteen minutes later, it stopped again, and was nice, though intermittently windy, the rest of the afternoon.
No track events this weekend, but lots of parents in town, for Graduation and/or Fathers Day. It was a pretty distinctive demographic, usually groups of three, parents and a twenty-something. Graduate? I'd ask, and nine times out of ten, I was right (the tenth were just in town visiting their undergrad for Father's Day). Sold them a lot of pottery, some bought by parents as graduation presents, others for themselves--kid had been giving them my work for Christmas or birthdays, so they picked out some more. (And in one case, a couple from St. Paul had been getting gifts from their mother in Eugene, and took the opportunity to check in on a visit to mom.) Couldn't think of any graduation-themed pottery, so I posted a bunch of dad pots to Instagram, rooster, lion, penguin dad and chick.
Always congratulated the new grads, and started asking their majors. Got Biology, Resource Ecology, Geology (my budding potter friend Nathan, there with folks, sister, and partner Erin), Planning & Public Policy Management, Product Design, Business (buying a panda baker for his grandma), Economics. Made a big sale to a family--four tumblers, four stew mugs, three of Denise's cards--who arranged to have me ship them back to Denver for them.
Had some folks just stop in to visit and see the new patterns; Michelle, who comes to town once a year, and has ordered in the past; and a kindergarten teacher whose name has escaped me, but face was familiar. She spent a good twenty minutes looking at everything new in the booth.
Favorite interaction was with two young women, obviously sisters, excitedly pointing out animals to each other in some unfamiliar language. From the harsh H's, I guessed Hebrew or Arabic; turned out to be the latter. They bought a cat food dish, later brought in an older woman I think was mom to show the work.
Chere was off driving the puppy rescue bus, bringing shelter dogs up from California to be adopted in the Northwest, so Judy and Paul were in her space, selling little leaded glass mini-beaches--sand, shells, driftwood bits, inside a pyramid or prism of glass.
Fun t-shirt of the day: Be yourself. They'll adjust.
We had a small protest march come through late afternoon, flying Pride banners and carrying signs like "Queers for Palestine." The chant leader with the megaphone was kinda incomprehensible; finally made out that they were saying "Hey hey, ho ho, Pinkwashing must go." Which didn't make a lot of sense to me, as I'm mostly familiar with the term when applied to businesses whose commitment to LGBTQIA issues mostly involve rainbow capitalism. I later found out it's also being used by the Israeli government, a sort of "Look how much better we treat you than they do." Confusing, I think, unless you're an insider.
Also confusing: this was the week the city opened two-way traffic on 8th Street, so all the Market vendors on that stretch had to come in from the opposite direction to park by their booths. Didn't affect me, thankfully, but my friends Robin and Sarah had an exciting morning.
Weather notwithstanding, a busy day, spectacular sales. I broke $1000, something that's only happened once before. Was very glad I did that catch-up firing this week.
