Ron Ritnour makes more money selling trinkets than most University professors make from teaching all year.
Ritnour, a jewelry maker, is one of 117 vendors this year at the ASUO Street Faire. The three-day event, which ends today, features food, music and countless booths selling everything from tie-dye shirts to hunting knives.
For Ritnour, the fair is a chance to sell his homemade wares to thousands of prospective customers.
“I’m one of the only beaders I know who makes a full-time business out of this,” he said. “I do it so I don’t have to work construction.”
The Springfield man quit a $22 an hour job as an HVAC installer a year and a half ago to make his own jewelry. Ritnour said while his day-to-day sales can fluctuate, he’s made as much as $1,500 profit in a single day. He hauls his booth and all the goods to more than 40 fairs a year.
“This all fits in my Firebird — I got it down,” he said. “People look at me and my booth and say ‘Damn!’”
He said working the street at the University gives him a chance to show his goods to students, who often can’t afford more expensive jewelry.
“You get to talk to lots of pretty girls, too,” he said.
Some people at the fair are just starting out.
Knife vendor Mark Perkins said he’s amazed at how many students have stopped by his booth.
“It’s fun to see people walk by and see these things — they glaze over,” said Perkins, who added that this is his first time at the fair.
He said it’s not just male students who stop and look at his collection of pocket knives, hunting knives, samurai swords and battle axes.
“I had a 50- to 60-year-old lady buy a halberd this morning,” he said, referring to a massive battle ax more than seven feet long. “She walked down the street with it and you could just see people moving out of her way.”
The knives drew constant questions from passersby.
“May I hold this?” asked sophomore Greg Starr as he eyed a wicked double-bladed fighting knife.
Perkins nodded. The blademaster said he’s already sold three-quarters of his inventory and plans to do future fairs and events.
“I’ve always liked knives since I was a kid,” he said. “To do this is a little boy’s dream come true — surrounded by knives.”
Other vendors have full-time jobs when not at their booths.
“This is just a hobby for me,” sausage seller Ben Boekhorst said.
Boekhorst, a grader at Emerald Forest Products who runs Wurst Company of Oregon and sells chicken, turkey and pork sausages, said he makes little money at the fair but does it anyway.
“It’s nothing I can live off of, but eventually I’d like to get a bigger cart,” he said. “Maybe this could be a retirement business.”
The ASUO Street Faire, a fund-raiser for the student organization that nets $8,000 to $12,000, ends today at 5 p.m.