May 23, 2009

Saturday is Market Day! I have been very busy this weekend, so this is the first opportunity to write!

I arrived at 7:15 to help Tracie load up the truck for market. Once everything was loaded up, I went to the store for a few odds and end, and dropped my car off at home so I could ride my bike to the market. ( I saw all those tow trucks! Maybe 8- 10 cars must have been taken! I didn't want my car to be one of them!) In spite of the ruckus ( tow trucks) there were a lot of people enjoying the weather and the market! It was significantly more busy than it had been the previous two weeks. Lots of visitors from out of town ( I suppose for Memorial Day) were there. One man from Michigan loved Tracie's Irish scones so much, he bought one and ate it right there...then bought another one and ate it right there...then(with no less than a mouthful of scone) asked her if she could mail him some!

It was really steady and busy, which was great! I have noticed that I'm getting better at adding up all the prices, and I've figured out some patterns, like if a person buys a loaf of bread and a hummus it always adds up to $10.00 . Also, just like I did, everyone loved the old fashioned lemonade jar! It was so cute! I didn't really learn anything from that...I just noticed it. One lesson I learned was that people really are not picky jerks. We had extra fudgy brownies this week. They weren't the prettiest... but man oh man did they still look delicious. And people snatched them up! I learned, it doesn't have to look pretty...just delicious. If your product is good, its good. There are no two ways around it. Also, people realize ( and I think are glad to know) that all this stuff is made by a person. It's not made by a machine that can do it exactly the same way every time. Just a woman who is doing the best she can.

As an assistant, it is an important part of my job to just listen and observe. In the time that I have been here, I have heard a lot about this new farmers market. This week especially people were talking about the effects of the construction on business. Some said the noise and dirt would drive people away. Others thought moving the market out of the way of the construction would turn people off. I have also learned that there won't be any room for growth in this new structure...but it will be nice and permanent. Coincidentally, there is an interview in the current issue of 16 Blocks with the business owners of the shops and restauraunts that surround the farmers market. Most of them originally supported the idea of developing the market, but now, they are not completely happy with what is projected to be the final outcome of the new venue either. I still don't know enough to speak up on the matter, but these are really, all of the opinions and information I have been able to glean on the matter. Maybe this is a little off topic from what I usually write. Maybe these opinions and concerns are only meant for the vendors to be concerned with (not the interns), but I have already grown to care about what happens to the market, and how it affects this town. I hope it is not too late for these concerns to be addressed.