After a four-month winter hiatus, the Eugene Saturday Market is back. The streets of downtown were filled with patrons on April 3 for the market’s season opener, where every available booth was filled with local artisans, international cuisine stands and live music performers.
“Our opening day always has a good turnout because people are excited to get back outside, look at all that’s new around the market and spend their dollars wisely with their neighbors instead of at big box stores,” Vanessa Roy, the Saturday Market’s marketing manager said.
The market drew a small crowd on opening day, but safety guidelines were enforced. Signs lined the grass and walkways reminding patrons to wear masks while walking around and stay 6 feet apart when sitting on the grass.
Since the market’s hiatus began in November, Lane County’s COVID-19 risk has improved given the increased vaccine availability, but restrictions remained the same, Roy said. The 2020 opening day was pushed from April to June, and the Saturday Market Board used the extra time to create a safety plan including a 50% capacity map to create 8 feet of distance between booths and wider walkways for shoppers. The board worked quickly to ensure that their vendors were supported and fundraised to help cover operating costs.
“As a community of artists and small business owners, we could not stay closed indefinitely. Our members rely on the income from a market,” Roy said. “We did all we could to provide resources without inflating costs while making the market a safe place to work and shop.”
The market’s pre-COVID-19 lineup included 260 booths, and it was brought down to 70 for the 2020 season. This year, 120 booths were filled on the opening day. The board made it a priority to allow vendors autonomy over when they return to the market. Even with limited spaces, there was no need to cut vendors from the lineup, Roy said.
“With the vaccines circulating and Lane County in the low risk category, we were delighted to welcome back members that couldn’t sell last year plus add new ones,” Roy said.
Chris Pender, a Saturday Market artisan, said that while COVID-19 has brought some changes, he hasn’t noticed a significant decline in sales.
“There are definitely fewer people who come to the market, but there’s also fewer booths, so I usually still make the same amount of money,” he said.
Pender has been setting up at the Saturday Market for the past 20 years, selling “The Game of Real Life” a hand-made board game created as a parody to “The Game of Life.” He wanted to create a game with more realistic components and rules defining the winner as the one with the most happiness points.
“Growing up, I loved playing The Game of Life, but I noticed that winning the game was defined by how much money you had at the end,” he said. “I wanted to create something that emphasized happiness over assets.”
Pender first came up with the idea in 1991 and collaborated with his friend who was starting up his graphic design business at the time to create the board. Now he’s sold over 30,000 boards and they’ve been used as a therapeutic exercise for at-risk teens.
During the market’s off-season, Pender continues to sell the games online. He hopes that with more residents getting the vaccine, the market can return to normal soon.
Although vaccine rates have gone up, so have case numbers, Lane County Spokesperson Jason Davis said. After gatherings took place on Easter, Lane County reached 88.7 cases per 100,000 people during the following week. This would put the county back into the moderate risk level if cases don’t go down before the end of the two-week grace period for assessing risk level. LCPH encourages residents to avoid gatherings and continue masking.
“We’ve demonstrated in the past that we have this capability to reverse trends and change the course of cases here in Lane County, and now is the time to come together and do that,” Davis said.
The Saturday Market will continue to enforce and adjust restrictions if needed in order to continue operating as safely as possible in the event of a risk level change, Roy said.
“Safety is our first priority; therefore, we are closely monitoring the pandemic and will adjust the market according to safety measures given by the state of Oregon,” she said.
