Farmer’s
Markets and Community Festivals
This summer marks the 30th year since I
first worked a Farmer’s Market. It was the Waverly Market in north Baltimore. I
also occasionally worked the Garrison Heights Market and the Downtown Baltimore
Market. All together I put in about 10 years of part-time weekend work all for
Reid’s Orchards out of Gettysburg, PA.
I enjoyed Farmer’s Markets before I ever worked one
and would stop to visit everyone I saw. I took mental notes about each of them.
For many years this phenomena was limited but sometime around 15 years ago when
food became trendy and inspirational even, there was a boom in these (mostly)
outdoor events. They also began to deteriorate in quality and comfort. Trendy
New Age products began taking up more space and noise at their booths.
There are still many very good markets and far more
tepid affairs and even a few that are remarkable in their paucity of goods and
the physical conditions in which they prevail. In 2019 I thought to make it a
study of every market I could reasonably get to in order to rate them.
I also determined to go to as many community fairs that
I could largely for the same rating purposes. So the following paragraphs are
about the markets and fairs I have visited since the spring. I’ll still go to autumn
and winter events as I come across them. I will do my best to cite my own
prejudices in the ratings.
The first farmer’s market of the year was in the late
winter while in San Francisco. I reported it in a previous blog so won’t detail
it again here. The earliest local one opened in late March in Vancouver. This
one continues until late October and is located downtown in Esther Short Park
and is a Saturday and Sunday event.
Vancouver
Market
I really enjoy the location as it is at the fringe of
a park and there is plenty of shade. The aisles are wide and nearly accommodate
the dogs which are welcome. They are welcome by people who are not me. People
bring their exotic and large show dogs and their little screaming tea cup dogs.
They have no business at crowded markets but owners need to preen with the
presentation and pretentiousness of their pets.
There is also live music played that ranges from
teen-aged violinists busking with open cases for donations, to orchestras
playing big band music.
I also have noticed for years that there is a
different sense of decorum at markets. People have less consciousness of their
own actions as they relate to others also present. So conversations start with parties
stopping in the middle of walkways despite the road block created. Typically
people do not step out of the paths of other shoppers. Phrases like “excuse me”
are rare even when the act is overtly rude. Notwithstanding, these sorts of
behaviors are acceptable at markets.
The Vancouver Market has lots of great qualities. It
is about the right size for a community like this one. The prices are
competitive and with the produce ample enough. There are several local ranchers
with frozen example of their wares just as there are fish vendors. The costs
are significantly higher than one would pay in a grocery store. The sales wedge
is that they are local and grain fed (meats) and occasionally organic. The
seafood is overwhelmingly one form of salmon or another and also quite
expensive.
There are also specialty meat and fish products such
as custom sausages and dried fishes which are also expensive but much harder to
come by. Unfortunately there is an overabundance of junk stuff.
New age panaceas, beard trimming, pet treats, weird art and personal hobby
horses.
There is a lot of hot food available and I am underwhelmed
by the quality though I do enjoy the tamales at one stand. There is a lot of
teriyaki (if you care for cloying and sticky chicken), barbeque (too pricey for
a paper plate) absolutely wretched deep fried food. I gave my fish and chips to
a homeless person after a few bites of overcooked white something fish. There
is candy corn and undoubtedly corn dogs since they are ubiquitous everywhere in
America. They are teemingly available and incomprehensible as a food product.
Lastly there are exotic canned or otherwise processed goods
like black garlic and pizza pie dough for those who want to pay money for such.
At the Vancouver Market the good outweighs the bad significantly and I am a
regular habitué.
Vancouver and Clark County host a number other markets.
The Eastside Market on Thursdays is located in the parking lot in a high
tech/medical area. It is a sparse market with a couple of hot food vendors and
a coffee/sandwich truck. I did buy some honey from an apiarist. It is pretty
tiny market. I saw many leaving with bags of food for their lunch which I
suspect is the prime buying source. It only exists as a market because markets
are hip these days.
Eastern
Vancouver Market
Less regular an event is the 4th Plain
Market which I think is once a month. Unfortunately there is nothing
aesthetically appealing about a market located in a barren and gravel parking
lot. That way all produce is dusty when displayed. I went on a cool and
overcast afternoon so the weather was not as oppressive as most summer
afternoons would be on a dusty parking lot. Fortunately the produce had not yet
wilted in the sun and there was not much there to wilt in the first place.
The vendor’s booths were placed fairly widely so as to
take all of the allotted space. This provided an aura of bleakness. This
particular market has no business being in business and for the life of me I do
not know who might find that a half an hour in this barren and desolate
environment was pleasing.
4th
Plain Market
Portland has a very large Market on the grounds of the
University of Portland and it is year round thus reminding me of Baltimore’s
Waverly Market. I don’t know how old it is but I suspect it is one of those
original city markets that started up 40-50 years ago. Since it is so large it
does provide many booths of Oregon and southern Washington produce. Some of it
exotic tomatoes or peppers and others more standard. Vendors hype the “organic”
when they can and of course all remind the shopper that they are local growers.
This should go without saying for all Farmer’s Markets.
There are also lots of meats-all frozen and costly.
There are also processed meats and fishes like dried salmon or beef jerky. Hard
sausages are very popular out here and that may be a national trend.
Since it is large there is plenty of room for all of
the new age things like aromatics, teas or soap products and local wines are
tasted throughout the market. For a hot prepared food I had pierogis which were
excellent and I have had slice of pizza cooked on the spot in a brick oven
during a separate visit.
I don’t go to Portland’s market very often-two or
three times per year but I always enjoy it. I only this year became aware that
it is a year round event and so can remember that on any dry warmish Saturday during
the winter that there is a market to visit. I won’t get fresh local produce
during the off season though.
Portland
Market
While visiting Detroit this past June I ventured into
the Redford Market. I found it as a wretched affair that is at least a few
years old. It is indoors in an auditorium like room with waxed vinyl floors and
some sort of a dais. It is a municipal building for the town of Redford. There
is a smattering of specialty booths vending wares that I have no interest in.
It is sparse and lit by incandescent tube lighting giving everything a bluish
tint.
Amongst edible items was a handful of tomatoes and
limp greens. There were probably jams and I say that because all Farmers
Markets have jams. I make an a priori decision to say that there must have been
one there as well. I bought a .6 ounce container of Aleppo Pepper that was
probably by William since the label identifies it as being from William’s
Garden. The contents solidified nearly immediately so that when I go to use it
I have to take a sharp object and pry off a small portion and then separate it
between my thumb and fore finger. That was the best product that they sold.
Photo
of Redford
Camas is a small old town about 10 miles east of where
I live. It is a pleasant little town which reminds me of similar ones in New
England. They have a weekly market during the summer which is small and well
attended but not for serious produce shopping. That which they sell is probably
good but from my perspective, not worth the drive. It is clear to me that it is
a meeting point for local people. It was not an unpleasant experience but one
that is hardly worth mentioning.
Salmon
Creek and Denver/Kenton
The Salmon Creek Market entertains the employees at a
largish medical complex a few miles north of Vancouver. It is a small number of
tables located on a small plaza in front of one of the buildings. It is open
one weekday for the summer months. I could not find free parking suggesting
that it really is designed for medical staff on lunch break. I see from
experience during the last few years that this sort of Market is common around
medical centers. They mostly cater to lunch fair and generally have limited and
not very appealing produce. People so not shop for grocery type food while on
lunch break or from unshaded booths where the produce becomes unappetizing. However
I did not get out of my car and walk through this one as I could find no free
parking.
The last “new” Farmers Market that I visited was in
the Denver/Kenton of north Portland. I don’t know how long it has been serving
this community but it was a pleasant enough venue. It is located on a shaded
street but is quite small. There were maybe 10 booths and at least one of them
was an insurance company. The bane of every community event is the plethora of
businesses that land booths and obstruct market customers. I’m not happy with
non-profits or government agencies having spots but am particularly vexed by
private industry sticking their noses into the fray. I don’t come to a produce
market to have home siding, insurance agents or credit union representatives
hawking their wares to me. At any rate the produce that I saw there looked good
and varied so that one could elect to buy one of several peppers for instance.
Well the main Vancouver Market remains open for
another month, the main Portland one is year round so I’ll still go to Farmer’s
Markets but my quest of making analytical tours of them is complete.
Festivals
It seems that there
are more festivals in Clark County alone than there were viewed in all of the
episodes of Gilmore Girls or Midsommer Murders. I went to quite a few this
summer and appreciated none save for the very last one I attended in mid-September.
For about 4 or 5
Wednesdays every summer there is a live music concert at noon in Esther Short
Park which is quite a pleasant park with a large pavilion and very poor
acoustics. It is not simply difficult to hear from any distance but it is in
the flyway of Portland’s airport-PDX. There is the local small aircraft and
historical airport-Pearson Field only about a mile away. Lastly there is an Air
Force base in northern Oregon, perhaps it is associated with PDX. At any rate
there are a lot of low flying aircraft from Cessnas to passenger airliners and
military fighter jets soaring overhead continually. It makes for listening to
live music pretty cumbersome.
Based on my two
visits this season, the extra noise drowned out music that was not worth
staying to listen to anyway. The first week was a group of middle aged to older
women singing traditional gospel music in traditional ways. Americans who may
have never gone to a church still are familiar with the songs like “Turn your
radio on” and they are familiar with the necessity of the nasal twang and the
banjo accompaniment.
The second one I
attended featured a young man and woman singing folk songs that they may have
written themselves for at least they were not old standards. However
thematically they were old standards. They were all about love, being footloose
and fond memories. It was simply a trite performance.
There is also a small
Farmer’s Market attached to the event and the wares of the worst sort. Hot food
from vendors was not too bad though.
On the good side
however the park is a nice place to bring a lunch from one of the local food
trucks or restaurants or eateries and sit on a bench and dine. Young parents
bring their children who are urged to dance for their elders and are compliant
with those demands. Everybody has a good time. This includes me. Despite the
roaring engines, vibrating speakers and dull music, on both occasions it was a
beautiful day. Sitting in a park for lunch just is not a bad thing to do.
Wednesday concert photos
In July the town of
Washougal held an annual Tamale Festival one hot and sunny Saturday in July. The
local media said apologetically, that last year, they did not plan well enough
and tamales ran dry early. The festival organizers were determined not to let
that happen in 2019.
The plaza in the
small downtown area (about 15 miles east of Vancouver) was big enough for the
crowd and maybe the tamales were great but I only saw two vendors. They were
serving very long lines and each had a menu that was essentially identical to
the other. People waiting for their food did it on asphalt and with no sun
protection. Seating provided very little respite as most spots were totally
exposed. A band played music. Fortunately there was no entry fee. I only stayed
for 5 or so minutes before retreating to a small neighborhood bar for a beer.
Tamale Festival
All of Clark County
and perhaps all of America, people are obsessed with old cars. Vancouver has
what they call the “Annual Cruise the Couve” which includes many old cars. Some
drive along Main Street in a parade and others flank each side of the street
like parked sentries. I used to enjoy these events when I stumbled upon them. I
still enjoy and admire the occasional antique car but have grown quite weary of
the event. However this trip down memory lane is free and along the route I use
to go to the Farmer’s Market so it is not a burden in any way and maybe I’ll
see some curiosity that I was unprepared for.
Antique Car
My apartment at
Mission Hills has an annual event for the residents. The first year that I went
in 2017 it was very small. I don’t remember how the music was provided and the
grilled hamburgers and hot dogs were sustainable fare and free so they were not
eschewed. The next year was quite a bit bigger and in 2019 it was fairly huge.
It included those giant air filled places for kids to play recklessly. Later in
the show they held contests for adults which were essentially races through the
various obstacles on one of these air filled creations.
The music was mostly
salsa and two different men gave salsa dancing lessons on the main plaza. I
brought a chair and sat with some apartment dwelling friends under the shade of
tall trees. We all enjoyed the afternoon and like the best festivals, it was
free.
Mission photo
One day on my way to
someplace else early one Sunday, I saw canopies and booths being erected along
Park Street in downtown Portland. I walked over to the event when it was in
full bloom when my first event was over. I found it was the Rose Neighborhood Art
Fair. It was pretty packed with both vendors and customers (or simply
tourists). It was extremely eclectic having some (in my own plebian understanding)
some pretty good art mostly of nature scenes and deteriorated along the lines
of abstract art, anime type stylings and “found” art.
Judging from the
crowd size and vendor interaction, it appeared to be a popular annual event. I
did not take a camera with me since I was not anticipating stumbling unto it
and even forgot my cell phone at home so my only records are from my memory.
At the end of August
is the annual Hawthorne Street Fair. This year it was on a hot Sunday. It
reminded me of the Ann Arbor Art Fair that I attended religiously for many
years. Likewise the Baltimore’s Artscape. I used to really enjoy squirming
through crowds of equally overheated and usually young people meandering
between music venues and eating all sorts of things that I can no longer
imagine eating.
I’ve grown too old
for enjoying this young person’s sport but appreciate why others do. This year
I was helping to man a booth for the “Freedom from Religion” group handing out
literature about preserving the boundaries between religion and the public
sphere.
I also came across
the Northwest Taco Festival near the downtown Vancouver library. It was not
open when I tripped upon it but I had no interest in waiting for the bell for
entry. I suppose it could be said that I like tacos and tamales as much as the
next guy but I actually have no idea how much the next likes those foods.
Taco Festival
On September 14 while
on my way to the Farmer’s Market I stumbled on the Peace and Freedom Festival
which apparently is an annual event. It was the first time I had seen it and it
likely was the most valuable of the many festivals I found myself in during the
summer. It did have the bank and insurance company booths but it had much more.
I met at length with a few groups who had booths including the ACLU, the
Veterans for Peace and the Human Services Council. The latter for its avenues
towards volunteerism. The two former ones for their public action.
The festival had an
overwhelming number of liberal churches and auxiliary groups but theology is
largely responsible for the necessity of festivals like this one and is
unlikely to provide resolutions to the problems it has fostered. There were
also as one my expect plenty of new age and alternative lifestyles booths but
those are not to be taken seriously by anyone examining issues like hate crimes
or loss of human dignity.
Festivals are events
of joy. They celebrate historic events, current life, harvests and perhaps
local specialties. Historically they have been created for unique populations
like ethnicity or by regions. They gather people together for conviviality
and support. So even poor festivals or markets have their raison de etre.
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