No time like the right time

I have no time left to get ready for the big show: it's all scramble from here on in. This week was so compelling that I have to take this moment out, even though it might mean dropping a few things from the bottom of the list.

New locally made bags

I got my new locally made bags! I am beyond thrilled. I ordered them from T&J Sewing in Springfield, a wonderful little family company. Saturday Market has been using bags from them for a couple of years, and this year I decided the world needs a two-handled tote that has a gusset so there is a flat bottom, but one that isn't as big or tall as the available imports. This one is perfect, and is made from domestic fabric and webbing handles, and prints really well. The quality is obvious, so I printed some up and hung them right in the front of my booth, and shoppers responded! They were even priced a bit higher, and the difference is obvious, so the savvy shoppers who didn't need to buy the cheapest thing saw just what I dreamed they would see.

This was not a small venture for me, I invested over $1000 in this speculation and it will be a long time before I sell them all. Could be a very long time. Still, I am happy to stop stocking the imported bags and gradually move to all local ones. I'm a screenprinter, not a sewer, so I can't make them myself. When you see them you realize not only do they cut and sew them, they have to press them to put in the folds, and they did a flawless job over there, in a very quick turnaround, so I could have some to take to Fair. I'm super grateful and excited.

So that's part of the good news. The rest is what happened at Market yesterday, a quietly observed but highly significant change. Beth decided to move the Information Booth off the northeast Park Block, away from the illegal and unsavory activities at the Free Speech Plaza. After last week's crimes, it seemed that it was no longer a great idea to put our staff and customers, and ourselves, at risk of our lives and well-being by using the county property. We were being asked to increase our liability insurance to an unfathomable level just to rent that 10x10 space for our Info Booth, while right next to us criminals were paying nothing to sell whatever they wanted and were attracting scofflaws of every sort to feed off of our event. We've been struggling for years to work on the space there and return it to the intent of a space for free speech.

It has been an ugly struggle. The county has not been supportive of us. Our organization is deeply committed to longterm relationships that benefit all parties and we had been spending quite a lot to clean the space at the end of the day, deal with all of the social problems concentrated there, and we don't have the money. All of our income comes from us, the members, who pay our fees and pay our bills and keep our nonprofit on her feet. We have enough to do without doing what the county has not been addressing.

So we're off the block and it felt amazing. Such a simple change but so heartening! The FSP looked much the same, and a fascinating thing happened, which may or may not have been related. All of a sudden there was extremely loud drumming on the western edge of our site, across the street, a small group of djembe players pounding with sticks, creating an unbelievable racket that completely obscured our usual sound rhythms and took over our Market for the hour or so they played at a couple of different locations within and without our event perimeter.

It was so inconsiderate, and of course drew an appreciative crowd with dollars to tip. The expertise was there (thanks to my ex- I actually know enough to appreciate technique a little) but the presentation was puzzling. So selfish, so entitled. They paid nothing to our organization for dominating our space for that hour.

It was a profound metaphor for how outside forces pressure us, how delicately we individually set up and cooperate for our mutual good, and how easy it is to hijack our event. It sucked. It was exactly what the FSP activities do to us, plus a thousand. It was frightening. At least when they came onto our site, in the grass on the south side, they came under our rules and we could hold them to the 20-minute limit for busking in a particular location. I assume they were then asked to move and we didn't hear them again. But the point was made, and I have no idea if it was intentional or completely unrelated to our move off the site.

It's weird, but the people selling and hanging at the FSP consider themselves to be members of Saturday Market, even though they pay no fees and follow none of our rules. We're such an open, welcoming group that like the YesYesYes Fair, we try to allow rather than restrict. Our restrictions come from self-preservation. We make agreements about them. We don't punish and fine our members to try to get them to comply, we use logic and peer pressure to articulate and adapt our agreements to fit the reality.

That works for most of the participants, but there will always be a number of "us" who don't follow the rules, and don't care for the organization, don't really feel a part of it. That's inside them, and I understand it, having broken a lot of rules myself and learned why it feels better to belong instead. People feel shut out and hurt by what is essentially their inner refusal to belong, to join. It's a big part of the dysfunction of our world and we all see it in many ways. The FSP problems are our microcosm.

And they're not over, but we're not playing the same game anymore. We won't give any assumed approval to what is going on over there, won't clean it up, won't try to fix it. I'm guessing people who are already hurt could feel this as an abandonment by SM. Maybe it will cause some reflection by a few of them. Maybe the LCFM and the County can work together to change things for a bit, but I'm not confident that either of them have the management to deal with any of it.

Our Saturday Market management and staff are simply the best there is. Beth has the depth of character and the ethics to make the right call every time, and the membership knows it and backs her decisions without fail. She doesn't make them in a vacuum. She knows how to work with people, take the temperature, get the facts, see who the players are and what their intentions might be...she is a marvel. She has my complete admiration, and with her in place other good people come forward. Our volunteers and members are some of the most wonderful people in our world.

My new peach design on the new bag

I know the hippie Mall of the Woods is my current love and I am spending all of my energy getting ready to make a great presentation out there, and to maybe even have a tiny bit of fun next weekend, but Saturday Market is my first love and I am just profoundly pleased and grateful. After the drumming scalded us all with the horrific possibilities of things we cannot control that hurt us, the ceasing of it left a quiet, when we resumed our natural pace and recaptured our soulful tunes and our sweetness. We had a great day. Tourists loved us, without knowing anything about our neighborhood struggles and our deep and thoughtful deliberations. Locals came with their old and loved crafts to add to their collections, brought their ancient tote bags to see my new ones. Friends came to air-kiss (the queenly ones) and visit and share the anticipation of the OCF.

All was very well. To top it off, this week, after almost two years of waiting and spending money, the Kareng Fund received our 501c3 nonprofit designation from the IRS. Our artisans relief fund is now a real, stand-alone charitable organization, there for us for career-threatening crises. It is not just there for Saturday Market members, but for all artisans in Oregon who belong to craft organizations. That's you, Fairies. Think about it. We have a fund of over $20,000, gathered by the penny from donations of our members, ready to help those who will stand with us, belong, care, and give to us. We can help you when you get your diagnosis, your accident, your misfortune, your tragedy. The word "deep" does not go far enough here.

We have our backs. We are us. This is no small thing. Thank you. See you on the path, and the very next weekend, see you back on the Park Blocks. Love you.

Logo bags, available at OCF booth 175