Portland Saturday Market

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Portland Saturday Market is the largest outdoor arts and crafts market in continuous operation in the United States. It is held every Saturday and Sunday from March to December under the Burnside Bridge in Portland, Oregon. In addition, the market has a Festival of the Last Minute, in which it runs daily until Christmas Eve. The market has over 400 members who generate about $8 million in gross sales annually and attract over 750,000 visitors to the historic Old Town district of Portland each year.

While the market is accessible by foot and bike, TriMet's MAX light rail line stops stops right in the middle, bringing in people from all over the Portland metropolitan area.

[edit] History

The market was founded in 1974 by craftspeople Sheri Teasdale and Andrea Scharf, who modeled it after the Saturday Market in Eugene, Oregon. It was founded as a mutual benefit corporation, under which all members would share in the cost and governance of the market, yet keep all profits they receive from selling their items.

All items sold at the Saturday Market are required to be handmade by the person selling it, and a committee of members judge each new item against a minimum standard of quality.