Eugene Saturday Market

A Eugene tradition since 1970, the Saturday Market is a collage of artisans, entertainers, farmers and much, much more. It's the happening place in Eugene every Saturday during it's run, which began yesterday for 2009.

In many ways, it's a step back into the 70's, and that's not all a bad thing. Tie-dye rules and starts young in Eugene. People from young to old, straight to gay, conservative to liberal flock downtown with the same purpose and sense of joy.

One never knows what the weather gods will offer for opening day, but when they smile with the first warmish, sunny day of spring, look out! Throngs of smiling, happy faces, children dancing to the music on stage, all enjoying some or many facets of the market, which basically encompasses 3 full city blocks, corner to corner, end to end.

The Farmer's market is a huge part of Saturday Market, having its own 3-sided block and offering everything from fresh produce to baked goods, chocolates, goat cheeses, freshly-picked wild mushrooms, bedding plants, flowers, and more. Much more. This is always my favorite haunt, although I do have an opening day tradition which is lunch at Ritta's Burritos, another long-standing Eugene tradition.

This isn't the clearest photo -- I just had to aim and shoot, the unaccustomed glare from that big light in the sky was too much! This, however, is the fungal bounty of the Oregon forests -- wild mushrooms of all varieties, whatever is out there at the moment. I see a few morels, some oyster mushrooms, something that looks like yellow foot, and more. Later in the year chanterelles will cast a golden carpet through old fir forests. Yes, I've spent many happy hours in the past trudging through those fields of gold and filling several large paper grocery bags with treasure.

These people are heroes in my mind. They raise wonderful pasture-grown beef, chickens, raw milk (and its products such as butter and whipping cream), pork, lamb, sausages -- all kinds of wonderful things. And they do it all using the best possible natural farm processes that insure the health of their animals as well as the health of their land. It's a true family enterprise.

A small portion of the Farmer's Market bounty.

My lunch. Totally impossible to eat without a fork, and utterly delicious.

Lots of nostalgia out there for me yesterday. Not my last Saturday Market, but I'm certainly on countdown.

I bought a painting I've been looking at in a store window for a couple of weeks, something that is, for me, very evocative of Eugene in general and Saturday Market in particular. As I was explaining to the woman in the store why I wanted it I choked up, filled with emotion about leaving all this behind. She was terrific -- said there was a grieving process for everything, even if it's something we choose to do. And she is so right. I've done a lot of grieving, expect that there will be a bit more before it's all over.

In the meantime, it's a beautiful, sunny day in Eugene that promises to be warm. The sun is pouring in my east-facing windows and I'm going to walk to Safeway in awhile for my weekly shopping. Just because I have a car doesn't mean I have to drive.