This Saturday, South Park is on Sale!

1,000 homes (more or less) join together for a yard, garage, alley sale extravaganza! Discover Seattle’s family-friendly 100 year old neighborhood along the Duwamish River this Saturday, August 28, 11am-6pm, free outdoor movie “Up” at 8:30pm. Musicians, pirates, treasure, homebrew, Salsa dance party, fresh produce from Market on Wheels! It CAN happen in South Park, 98108, Cloverdale to 14th Ave S.

If you are from outside South Park or even in SP and want to to sell your wares at the market, come at 9am with $10 for your space rental. Bring your own tables and canopy. No electricity is available.

First Day Charm

Today was the first day of the market. There was a little confusion with the DOT and the City for how to block off the street, but that was resolved after the Mayor came down to spend some time checking out our market.

If you came, you saw 13 vendors, a smaller group, but a good group. On my partner and my limited budget, we managed to be entertained and come home with some nice stuff. I think we had $25 collectively between the two of us. I had a hot link and Elizabeth had a Field Roast dog from Mama Juanita’s. Good stuff with all the fixin’s.

I got a birthday gift for my best friends 1 year old. It’s the cutest little handmade stuffed octypus made from a recycled striped sweater. I think Colleen said her daughter designed them and she sewed them. It is super soft and adorable.

From Jose, of course, we bought organic broccoli and fresh cilantro. We bought some limes, onions and freshly made tamales from Maria to take home.

There was Tupperware for sale, so we got a couple items out of the discount bin, jewelry, rosaries, flea market stuff, clothes, cowboy boots, and more.

I can’t forget Alex, who is the guy to see for insurance, tax help and immigration assistance.

Mix all that with lots of good neighbors, laughter, cute dogs fun kids and it was a good day in the hood. On the walk back home, a neighbor gives us kale, lettuce, carrots and onions from her organic garden.

The South Park Market on Wheels is the most laid back friendly market I’ve ever been to. I caught the tail end of some good music. Wished I had gotten their earlier.

All in all, it was a quiet day, an intimate crowd, but fun for those who came. Hope we see you next time on July 17th.

UNTIL NEXT YEAR

Just because the market is over for the year 2009, doesn’t mean we will not keep telling you all the things happening behind the scenes to make this next years market even better. So make sure you check in every once in a while and see what we are up to.

Right now we are gathering an advisory board which is meeting often to write grants and make suggestions and gather feedback. Then we start moving forward because to make a market successful, it has to be year-round at least in the planning stages. So off we go running for the 2010 season with plans to try and make this event weekly, have cake walks, more music, more produce, more of what you want, and even perhaps hours that will help folks who work on Saturday.

And as always, bi-lingual, multi-cultural and local resident vendors are the focus.

And a huge thank you to everyone that helped make the market a success, to the City of Seattle for our grant and faith in us, to our fiscal sponsor, to our neighborhood association who gave us insurance,  C2C for helping with our co-op, our vendors who continued to show up even though maybe our numbers were small, and to you, who spent your hard earned cash supporting a true grassroots organization.

MARKET ON WHEELS vs. FIESTAS PATRIAS

Why not do both?

South Park is the place to be this Saturday. Come to the market at 10am, shop, eat, etc., and grab one of the best spots in town for the parade. When the dancing horse guys are done and the leftovers are picked up off the road, you can wander down to the festival at the community center on 8th. It runs until 5pm so there is plenty of time to celebrate at both locations. The market is over at 3pm.

Or come, go down to the festival and then come back. Just remember the main streets are all closed for the parade from 9am to noon. Which means, unless you know the back roads across the south park bridge, you are gonna end up parking and walking. If you want to come to the market but want to drive all the way and have parking, then be sure to come after 12:30 or 1pm. There will still be lots of good stuff, art, fresh veggies and good food to eat. Live music from 11 to 1pm.

See you Saturday morning or afternoon.

GREAT MUSIC ON AUGUST 15TH

Join us at the market this month, August 15th from 10 am to 3 pm. We’ll have good food, good art, cool other stuff, amazing vendors who are your neighbors, the freshes veggies, you, ice cream and a fun band called “Trio Lucero del Norte“.

The trio performs roots music, regional Mexican/folk music. They will be performing from 11am to 1pm. So make sure you stop by, buy some amazing veggies, eat your lunch and enjoy some music. Not to mention enjoying your neighbors in a great way.

Make it a day.