The Travel Network visited us at the Portland Saturday Market this morning.... it was a thrill. After I got done setting up my booth I ran around the market stalking them to get a picture of them taking pictures.
First thing in the morning they set up right in front of my booth to take some stock footage with one of our staff talking about the market. I would say its because my booth in the background looked so damn good... but I wasn't even set up yet! They got there early! But I did have my sign up on my booth by the time they were filming(just no artwork up yet). So if you ever see the PSM featured on the Travel Network you might see my red sign in the background that says "Leah Glass".
The PSM needs all the publicity we can get right now. You see our home "Old Town" (a part of downtown Portland Oregon right on the waterfront) is the site of some major development. Ahh gentrification. Usually artists get squished out in this process, but our 30+ year old artist market is a huge tourist attraction for the area - actually its the #1 tourist attraction in downtown Portland! So the city is excited to dub us the "biggest catalyst" for the neighborhood and the Portland Development Commission Parks department is designing the new waterfront park (where the "Big Pipe Project" has had the park under construction since 2004) to turn into the Portland Saturday Market on the weekends. It will be beautiful! Visible from the river, part of the city landscape with the bridges and the boats and our craft booths. I'm stoked.
But construction is not scheduled to be finished until 2009 and our current site will be a hole next year - literally construction will have begun on the new Mercy Corp building where our food court currently resides.
There are interim plans, something about the city shutting down traffic on two lanes of Naito Parkway and letting us occupy the Road as well as the adjacent park and some of the space under the Burnside Bridge. It should be interesting. Personally I am looking forward to 2009 - we will look amazing then... but 2008 will be more transition... and probably hard on the artist's businesses that have previously thrived here.
1 comment:
The place out of which artists are squeezed by gentrification is the same that was occupied by low-income families until the artists came, making way for yuppies.
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