On a street corner in downtown Eugene, three girls sang “You’re So Vain” to twangs of a ukulele. The Cascades Raptor Center displayed a Red Tailed Hawk and a Great Horned Owl inside of a green mesh tent, while pans sizzled and vendors displayed their wares.
This is just another day at Eugene’s Saturday Market, the country’s oldest outdoor market festival combing food, art, politics and community, according to its Web site.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays from early April to Nov. 12, the market, located on Eighth Avenue and Oak Street about two blocks from Eugene Station, provides community members a place to sell food or art, or to educate visitors about their cause.
“It is fun,” said McCall Hall, a freshman at the University attending the market for the first time. “Someone gave me ‘nola. It’s like granola without the gro.”
At the Lane County Farmer’s Market, across the street from the Saturday Market, many of the local food vendors offer organic produce, flowers and products from their farms and gardens.
Slusher’s Tilth Organic Farm has had a booth at the Market since it was established in 1970. Owner Mary Slusher sells peppers, tomatoes and other vegetables. Slusher said farming is “hard work.”
“You have to love being a farmer to do this,” she said.
Other vendors sell their own art. Jim Hawkin’s first set up his booth, Surf Bum Sand Castle Works, in 1973 when he started selling his carved candles to pay for college. After a 25-year hiatus from the business he came back, hawking his creations at the Market.
“I have another business, but this is my love,” Hawkins said.
All art wares and crafts sold at the fair are required to be manufactured by the vendor who sells them.
“There are some really talented artists here,” said Sergio Martinez, a theater arts major at the University.
Some vendors try to inform the public about different causes or political issues.
Many visitors come to the market for the variety of free entertainment. It is not uncommon to find a drumming circle or someone reading a speech at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza in front of the Lane County Courthouse. Children often take part in the Market’s family-friendly atmosphere.
“I like all the newborn babies and kids here,” said Margot Charkow-Ross, a freshman at the University.
One park block features booths of local restaurants like Ritta’s
Burritos, while a covered eating area provides shelter for the community to eat and rest their feet, and also listen to the entertainment of the week.
In association with the Saturday Market is the Holiday Market, which opens the weekend before Thanksgiving and closes the weekend of Christmas Eve, offering holiday gifts and International food. The Holiday Market is held at the Lane County Fairgrounds inside the Exhibit Hall at 13th Avenue and Jefferson Street.
More information on the Eugene Saturday Market can be found at www.eugenesaturdaymarket.org.