The Occupy Eugene movement moved to Alton Baker Park Friday to allow the Saturday Market to happen undisturbed Saturday morning.@@http://kezi.com/news/local/228324@@
A couple of protesters stayed in the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza adjacent to the Saturday Market to keep the Occupy movement at the forefront of shopper’s minds.@@http://www.waynemorse.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=2@@ Vanessa Sampson, a protester involved in the movement since Oct. 15, carried a sign saying “This IS democracy in action.”
“They moved to Alton Baker Park to allow the farmers market, who are the little people that we are representing, to make a living,” Sampson said. “There never was an issue about taking the park over and kicking them out.”
Beth Little, general manager of Eugene’s Saturday Market, has been pleased with the Occupy movement’s cooperation with the market.@@http://www.edev.org/board@@
“The Saturday Market is really coordinated with the ‘Occupy Eugene’ ethic. That’s why our businesses are not corporate-based,” Little said. “I spoke at their general assembly meeting earlier this week and it became pretty clear to us by the end of the week that they were going to move. And that was in support of us.”
The movement is currently located in Alton Baker Park, but Sampson is unhappy with the new location. Alton Baker Park is not as centrally located, and Sampson fears the movement will not get as much attention if it is not at the forefront of the community.

Dani Hendrickson, a 2010 University graduate, is also part of the movement. She wanted to keep the movement’s motives alive as well.
“I am handing out fliers for public outreach, because we want people to know we didn’t stop occupying,” Hendrickson said.
These fliers alerted shoppers that the Occupy movement had moved as well as asking people to ‘Occupy Yourself’ by not spending money, not driving and not using electricity.
It is unclear how many protesters are currently a part of the movement.
“Part of the problem is that we were small; we had 150 tents in there and there was no more room,” Sampson said.  “As soon as we moved to Alton Baker Park, we had 300 tents. There are a lot of people who want to come in and join the occupation but there wasn’t room. And once we grow, we may not be able to come back.”
The future location of the occupation is unclear.
“It’s going to be a lot of meetings to discuss where we will move next, or if we will move. So it’s hard to say, we’re trying to figure that out right now,” Hendrickson said. “The spot that we’re in is temporary. It’s not good because nobody sees us there. So hopefully we’ll figure it out.”
The Saturday Market season ends on Nov. 14,@@http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/updates/11144984-55/story.csp@@ and the movement will most likely not return downtown until at least this date.
The Saturday Market officials are pleased with the condition of the park.
“It’s cleaner than it usually is. There’s a usual transient population that we displace on Saturday, and they do not leave it this clean,” Little said. “There’s not a speck of trash. It’s lovely.”
Vendor Sue Theolass, owner of Lavender Mood, agreed.@@Probably http://members.efn.org/~comvill/meeting_minutes/village/village_meeting_minutes_archives.html@@
“They cleaned up after themselves beautifully. Whether or not it’s here, as long as we’re able to carry on our markets it’s fine,” Theolass said. “I so admire this bunch because they aren’t operating in a vacuum. They’re talking to the city officials and they’re talking to the police. It’s not a violent or angry thing they’re doing.”