My Booth at the Portland Saturday Market

I was in the mood to take pictures this Saturday, so I documented a bit of what it is like to set up at the Portland Saturday Market. I love the imagery of this place, and I've taken pictures in the morning down here many times, but not really of the actual process of setting up... I've done this every weekend for 8 years now... so here ya go...
here is Mr Tim pushing my cart. Lately he has been able to join me in the morning setting up my booth before he goes to work - Thanks Tim! The yellow cart he is dragging is one of a half dozen or so carts that the market supplies to help vendors haul their stuff around the site. They are great! Sometimes its a challenge to find one to use, but its worth it. I have a few carts of my own to supplement though... you can't depend entirely on the PSM carts, there are hundreds of other vendors who also want to use them.
see here my booth is strapped to a cart. I wheel it out and set it up while Tim is dragging the rest of my stuff out from storage. This storage space is literally under the sidewalk on the South West side of the Burnside Bridge. The walls are wet with water that seeps through the concrete sidewalk. Its old and really pretty gross. Mold, yes. Rats, sometimes. Floods, I've experienced 2 in my 8 years. There is more storage in this building in the Shanghai tunnel space that is directly underneath my storage. Its awesome. Old historic creepy spaces. This is the basement of the old building that was once a brothel in Old Town Portland. The PSM office spaces are on the bridge level floor and most of the rest of the building is storage. I think the building is haunted by one of the old prostitutes that used to work in the brothel. Story goes that she tried to blow the whistle on the people being Shanghaied (between 1850-1941 people in port cities were stolen and sold to sea captains as labor - on the west coast Portland surpassed even San Fransisco in numbers of men Shanghaied) and so the prostitute was Shanghaied! She was never seen again and I think she haunts the place now! Currently a handful of artists store their market stuff (retail display stuff and whatnot, we're not allowed to store product in this storage) in this Shanghai tunnel space. Its really fascinating to me!
here is the big cart getting loaded up with my stuff. Tim built me these wooden pedestals, I love them. I use them as storage as well as retail display furniture.
here is my stuff ready to be pushed from my car to the booth. This little folding cart is wonderful. Its from Costco, its very light and it folds up real small... best part is its sturdy and holds lots of weight.
the market in the morning is an interesting site of people setting up their booths...
this coffee booth has been at the market for decades, serving warm beverages to the masses with handmade syrups and fresh local roasted beans...
heres my booth all ready to go
and what it looks like from where I sit...