The Eugene
Saturday Market is
packed full of fun
foods, great
entertainment and
locally made crafts
Ryan Starkweather Emerald
Saturday market goers relax on the lawn near the food and craft booths. The market is the nation's oldest open-air market.
tm —
Ryan Starkweather Emerald
Vendors entertain potential customers at the Saturday Market last weekend.
It’s a good place to
get a glimpse into what
Eugene’s really all about
Kim Still
Saturday Market
assistant manager jj
By Joe Walsh
Oregon Daily Emerald
It’s become a ritual. Every Satur
day, Eugene resident Lucas Gib
bons waits in line for as long as a
half-hour, just to eat lunch. It’s the
same lunch every time, but he
can’t help but come back again
and again for that delicious Pad
Thai from the Bangkok Grill food
booth at the Saturday Market.
“It’s like the least nutritious
thing here, and yet it’s the most
popular,” Gibbons said of the
rice and noodle dish.
Gibbons, a Lane Community
College freshman studying culi
nary arts, has been eating at
Bangkok Grill for about six years
now. It’s one of the most popular
food booths at the weekly mar
ket, regularly drawing so many
customers that the line stretches
all the way across the food booth
area.
“They must put something in
it,” Gibbons said. “It’s kind of
weird.”
The Bangkok Grill is one of 20
food booths at Eugene’s Saturday
Market, located at Eighth Avenue
and Oak Street in downtown Eu
gene. The market has fed and en
tertained locals for the past 31
years, making it the oldest weekly
open-air festival in the United
States.
Gil Dunaway, a local candle
maker and vendor, has been
there since opening day in 1970.
“The market has improved
every year,” he said.
Dunaway, the founder of
Small World Candles, works 12
hour days making his colorful
scented candles that he sells for
$5 - $25. With small crescent
moons on the sides that glow in
the dark, the candles are very
popular, so much so that Dun
away has made his living selling
them primarily at the Saturday
Market for the past three
decades.
Dunaway is one of about 300
local vendors who sell fine hand
crafts at the market every week
where “the maker is always the
seller.” With so many vendors,
shoppers can buy anything from
bongo drums to tie-dyed under
wear. Beads, jewelry, hemp, or
ganic vegetables, ceramics and
clothes are just a few of the hun
dreds of goods available.
The market also provides end
less entertainment, with every
thing from a tarot card reading
booth to a prayer booth. Besides
the entertainment provided by
belly dancing, poetry reading,
hackysacking and bongo-playing
patrons, the market offers on
stage concerts by local and re
gional artists. Among the stage
performances last weekend were
a roots reggae band, a Cascadian
folk duo and a solo guitarist.
There’s really no better way to
experience the city of Eugene
than to simply spend a day at the
Saturday Market. In just a few
wooded blocks, the market en
compasses all that is Eugene.
“It’s a good place to get a
glimpse into what Eugene’s real
ly all about,” said Kim Still, Sat
urday Market’s assistant manag
er. “You really see people of all
kinds and get a good sense of
what a community-minded
place Eugene is.”
For Still, it’s difficult to describe
the market with mere words.
“There’s so much,” she said.
“It’s hard to really prepare some
body for the experience. Most
people just have a lot of fun be
ing there.”
Eugene’s Saturday Market
takes place every Saturday from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The market sea
son runs from April through No
vember. This weekend’s stage en
tertainment includes juggler Tim
Miller, acoustic folk-rocker Craig
Sorseth, guitarist John Twist,
eclectic ethnic band Cinq a Sept
and bluegrass band Roundhouse.
For more information, call 686
8885.
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