This last Sunday was my first day to sell at the Flagstaff Community Market. I spent all winter collecting juice pouches, sewing, and getting ready for my favorite time of year- community market season! The night before, I loaded up my car with tables and stands, bags and boxes filled with juice pouch items, and I went to bed anticipating the next morning.
I woke up Sunday morning at 5:30 took a shower, got dressed, and had breakfast. I took inventory of all of my things to make sure that I had everything I needed and then trucked down to the market.
I love getting there early. Most of the large growers are just setting out their harvest and I am the only one in the middle of the parking lot setting up my little stand. As every thing comes out of the bags and boxes my little makeshift shop takes shape and then I get to sit back and watch the rest of the activity as plant growers, fudge makers, bee keepers, and others set up their goods. Some of the vendors walk around to check out everything before the market begins. Everyone smiles and says good morning.
The market is really a small community that comes together every Sunday morning and the camaraderie among vendors always makes me smile. The vendor next to me had help from three others to guide his truck into place. Narrowly missing my rack of bags and the canopy behind him. The wind had everyone on edge, keeping watch over canopies. Half way through the market my two display racks blew over and the gentleman behind me came over and gave me two of his weights that he wasn't using because he had decided to go without his canopy. A smart move with possible 40 mile an hour gusts.
Little by little the customers start arriving and you can find some real characters at the market. I sit on my chair, smile, and say good morning to the passer byes. Most people stop for a moment to look at my things and exclaim what a clever idea I have or how wonderful I am for recycling.
Now I have to mention something important here. What people don't realize is that the people who make things out of recycled materials are not the heroes. The people who buy things made out of recycled materials are the heroes saving the environment.
It doesn't matter how clever my idea is, how creative, or how much I recycle. If people don't purchase the product that I am offering then I cannot continue to make them. I will not have the money I need to buy the thread to sew them together and if no one buys them they may as well have been thrown away in the first place. If we want to save or natural resources, prevent trash from going into landfills we have to create a demand and a market for reused, recycled and up-cycled goods.
But I smile anyway at the people who don't care to buy and appreciate their kinds words. My favorite incident on Sunday were to gentlemen who passed by and told me I had such a wonderful idea that I was going to start selling my things at Wall-Mart and become a millionaire. As they walked on they told the vendor next to me that I was going to be a millionaire and that the fact that I was pretty as well would help me. Little do they know that Terracycle already beat me to it.
In four hours time you meet all kinds of people and have enough stories to last you the rest of the week. Like these two little girls who were very curious about my bags. They were trying to find a pouch that still had juice in it. The older one kept asking, "Juice?" I had to keep telling her that all the juice was gone and it was just a bag now. She was very disappointed.
In the end I packed up all of my things (thankful that I was a few things lighter) settled my account with the market manager and went home wishing that next Sunday was not so far away.
If you live in Flagstaff you should come check it out. If you have a community or farmers market in your area you should go. You might be surprised what you find. I have to congratulate the organizers of the Flagstaff Community Market. They have managed to put together a market that gives you a taste of everything and stays true to their purpose. I have heard people from out of town say more than once that our market is better than their one at home or that they don't have a market at all and I think that ours is doing a wonderful job.
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I love getting there early. Most of the large growers are just setting out their harvest and I am the only one in the middle of the parking lot setting up my little stand. As every thing comes out of the bags and boxes my little makeshift shop takes shape and then I get to sit back and watch the rest of the activity as plant growers, fudge makers, bee keepers, and others set up their goods. Some of the vendors walk around to check out everything before the market begins. Everyone smiles and says good morning.
The market is really a small community that comes together every Sunday morning and the camaraderie among vendors always makes me smile. The vendor next to me had help from three others to guide his truck into place. Narrowly missing my rack of bags and the canopy behind him. The wind had everyone on edge, keeping watch over canopies. Half way through the market my two display racks blew over and the gentleman behind me came over and gave me two of his weights that he wasn't using because he had decided to go without his canopy. A smart move with possible 40 mile an hour gusts.
Little by little the customers start arriving and you can find some real characters at the market. I sit on my chair, smile, and say good morning to the passer byes. Most people stop for a moment to look at my things and exclaim what a clever idea I have or how wonderful I am for recycling.
Now I have to mention something important here. What people don't realize is that the people who make things out of recycled materials are not the heroes. The people who buy things made out of recycled materials are the heroes saving the environment.
It doesn't matter how clever my idea is, how creative, or how much I recycle. If people don't purchase the product that I am offering then I cannot continue to make them. I will not have the money I need to buy the thread to sew them together and if no one buys them they may as well have been thrown away in the first place. If we want to save or natural resources, prevent trash from going into landfills we have to create a demand and a market for reused, recycled and up-cycled goods.
But I smile anyway at the people who don't care to buy and appreciate their kinds words. My favorite incident on Sunday were to gentlemen who passed by and told me I had such a wonderful idea that I was going to start selling my things at Wall-Mart and become a millionaire. As they walked on they told the vendor next to me that I was going to be a millionaire and that the fact that I was pretty as well would help me. Little do they know that Terracycle already beat me to it.
In four hours time you meet all kinds of people and have enough stories to last you the rest of the week. Like these two little girls who were very curious about my bags. They were trying to find a pouch that still had juice in it. The older one kept asking, "Juice?" I had to keep telling her that all the juice was gone and it was just a bag now. She was very disappointed.
In the end I packed up all of my things (thankful that I was a few things lighter) settled my account with the market manager and went home wishing that next Sunday was not so far away.
If you live in Flagstaff you should come check it out. If you have a community or farmers market in your area you should go. You might be surprised what you find. I have to congratulate the organizers of the Flagstaff Community Market. They have managed to put together a market that gives you a taste of everything and stays true to their purpose. I have heard people from out of town say more than once that our market is better than their one at home or that they don't have a market at all and I think that ours is doing a wonderful job.
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