Saturday Market celebrates Eugene’s downtown area
LAURA GOSS/Emerald
Steve Albrechtsen uraps a ceramic bowl for Maureen Frahm of San Diego at the Saturday Market.
Local artisans have been
selling wares at the Market
for almost three decades
By Peter Breaden
Oregon Daily Emerald
From the April planting season
until Thanksgiving’s harvest time,
a goblin in its 29th year rises in the
heart of Eugene. The Saturday Mar
ket is often branded the “last bas
tion of the terminally hip,” a link to
the thirty-something expression of
communal life and flower power.
Described as a clan by some, the
market occupies the park blocks at
8th Avenue and Oak Street, across
from Eugene City Hall. The mis
sion of the market is to provide “a
low-cost marketplace for local
handcrafters and artisans and a
weekly celebration for the Eugene
community.” Along with the
hand-crafted wares are 24 food
booths and a stage that holds a va
riety of musical performances.
The same stage hosted the Mar
ket’s first wedding when Eileen
Polk and Anthony Cormier were
married last July. The Market will
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hold a clearance sale on October 10.
“It doesn’t matter if it rains, if
it’s sunny, or if it’s an election
year,” said Kim Still, assistant
manager of the Market. “It’s pretty
much just a festive atmosphere
every week.”
The Saturday Market was
founded by Lotte Streisinger, who
borrowed the idea from Central
American market plazas and her
own childhood memories.
“The Eugene community was
losing its downtown to Valley River
Center and to the suburbs,” said
Streisinger, who is a professional
potter from Munich, Germany.
“The Market is a centralizing force.”
The original 29 vendors have
grown into a body of over 800 ac
tive members. It is governed by a
nine-member board of directors,
which is composed of artisans and
community members.
“It’s a good way to participate in
the economy of Eugene, to make it
stronger, with no middle-men,”
Still said. “It’snot that common.”
The Saturday Market Standards
Committee enforces criteria related
to “uniqueness, originality, and craft
processes.” Vendors pay $8 and 10
percent of sales for their booth
space, which is eight feet deep by
eight feet wide. At the first gathering
on May 9,1970, the fee was $1.
“In the beginning, many people
thought of it as a political state
ment, opposing the military and
industrial complex,” she said.
“Now it’s more a collection of
small businesses.”
The Market, which is a nonprofit
organization, carries an annual
budget of more than $350,000. The
same organization operates the
Holiday Market between Thanks
giving and Christmas Eve. Market
staff estimate sales that total more
than $2.5 million at Market events.
The dissemination of personal
computing will further entrench
the Market, Streisinger said. The
more that people sit in front of a
computer screen, the more the
Market will be needed because,
she said, “it’s real and something
you can touch.”
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