Just out., August 05, 2005, Page 14, Image 14

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Queer vendors at Portland Saturday Market
by Patricia L. MacAodha
Come visit us at our new
kiosk in Lloyd Center on the
first level by Nordstrom
where you will find
all of your Escential favorites
and longer mall hours
for your convenience.
I wasn / sure I could buy a home but
/ sun Christine s ad and culled. Hi
met and before I knew it I was
prequelified. dust as I found the
perfect house I had to leave the
country for three weeks. This could
have meant disaster, but ( hristine
w ent the distance and handled
everyth ill}'. II hen I returned, all I
had to do ii </s \iyn the papers and
move m.
Richard. Manager, Jazzercisc. Inc.
503.698.5429
503.301.1941 Pager
hallc@eaglehomemortgage.com
Christine Hall
Senior Loan Consultant
President’s Club
Proud to be Out for over 25 years
WITHAM & DICKER
PRINTING • PROMOT/S n AL PRODUCI S
503 736 Oí 1 Í
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Brasher, hauling out and hanging up the bright­
aylight emerges slowly around and
| under the west end of the Bum- ly colored tie-dyed clothing they market from
| side Bridge, catching on lumps of Out of the Closet Artwear. Although they have
F metal, plastic, wixxl, canvas and a thriving online business, their primary sales
venue is the market, where Weinhaus has been
_____ other materials. Now-skeletal
shadows will soon be raised up and fitted on the organizations hoard for nine years. They
together as the newest weekend edition of the prefer the spectrum of vendors at the market
31 -year-old village of tents and btxiths known as and find the environment friendly and support­
Portland Saturday Market.
ive. In all their years here, “We have never
“It’s very diverse and very inviting for any­ experienced overt homophobia, just the preach­
one to come there,” says vendor Patty Kelly. She er” who sometimes proselytizes to the market
and her partner, Sayde Thoreson, operate Doo­ community from the bridge ramp.
dlebug Duds, offering products such as colorful
As Just Out talks with these vendors,
pet bandannas, beds and pet carriers. They have whether they have been here 17 years or four,
a number of venues for the items they sell.
like artistic photographer Verone Flood, the
As the six-year market veterans set up their same image emerges: of a vending community
booth, Gina Nash is busy with her own setup. with a widely diverse nature. “We have every
Nash
creates
lanterns, can­
dleholders and
other art objects
out of recycled
tin containers.
Her
studio,
Experienced
Materials, is the
workplace
where she cre­
ates, Monday
through Friday,
what she has
been
selling
from her market
booth for the
past seven years.
The sounds
of setup merge
with the smells
of breakfast and
prep cooking by
vendors in the Sayde Thoreson (right) and Patty Kelly sell items for the privileged pooch.
type, from very
conservative to
barely on the
planet,” according
to Nash, but they
have all learned to
get along, to cre­
ate a unified pres­
ence and to sup­
port one another.
Three of these
vendors say they
were encouraged
to try Portland
Saturday Market
by friends, though
not
necessarily
friends who were
queer or vendors.
What all seemed
to know was that
the environment
Gina Nash turns that old tin can into something beautiful.
would translate
to g(xxl sales for
market’s International Fcxxl Court. The market their friends and that their sexual orientation
won’t open until 10 a.m., but it takes a lot of would be insignificant to the other vendors
work getting ready for the hordes of visitors— and the shoppers. Flood visited the market
more than a million each year—who make before moving to Portland and went back “a
Portland Saturday Market one of their regular couple of times to purchase gifts and enjoyed
stops. Since its small beginnings in 1974, the the atmosphere.”
market has become a widely known tourist des­
She saw the opportunity to sell her pho­
tination in Portland.
tographs “at a reasonable price. Galleries and
Almost every weekend for the past 17 years shows that 1 had been in typically took a large
has seen Rhia Weinhaus and her partner, Zekra commission.”