As the warm spring weather is settling into Eugene, more and more outdoor activities are starting to pop up around the city, and on April 4, The Racks hosted a vintage market in 5th Street Public Market.
The Racks is a vintage store, owned by former UO students, that hosts various vendors in their space. The Racks has vintage, Y2K and handmade clothing available.
Their outdoor vintage market had many vendors selling all kinds of clothing, accessories, shoes and more. But beyond clothes, they also had henna, tooth gems, food, drinks and live DJ’s. For the first sunny weekend of spring term, this was the perfect activity for students and community members to attend.
“The vibes are really good. A bunch of people and a lot of good like clothing and stuff like that. A lot of vendors I’ve never seen before,” Raphael De Leon, a junior at UO, said. It’s normal to see some sellers on campus, especially in the spring. This event had familiar faces, as well as plenty of new people on the selling scene.
“Usually I’m intimidated to go to those just because they’re so small, so I like the bigger area to like, roam and stuff. I can go to different stalls that might not have as many people,” De Leon said. While a lot of the vendors were independent sellers, there were also some secondhand stores in Eugene that had booths as well such as St. Vincent de Paul.
The food and drink options added a lot to the market. Similar to the Eugene Saturday Market, there was always a line at the lemonade booth. The live music featured UO students DJing the event which made the environment fun and lively.
“There’s been a lot of people here and a lot of cute animals and the weather has been nice,” Jules Piller, a vintage seller from Portland, said. “I sew and make a lot of clothes but a whole booth of handmade clothes is a lot of work so now it’s mostly vintage.”
Piller said she mostly sells clothes she wishes she could fit into so instead she collects it; she also loves Y2K. Y2K was the vibe of the day. Most vendors and attendees were sporting Y2K looks, and with the music, it felt like a time capsule back to the year 2000.
“I think it was so smart that they had like food out here. Every time I walk by I’m like ooh yeah, all of the like custom hats and like the tooth gems, I feel like that’s so fun. We gotta do more things like this. It’s spring term, you gotta be outside,” Mikai White, UO senior, said.
With over 30 vendors and free entry, The Racks vintage market was the perfect weekend activity to set off the start or spring term. You can enjoy vintage shopping everyday at The Racks store and keep an eye out for other local independent sellers on campus.
