Tacoma Market Opens

Hooray! Thursday morning (tomorrow), the Tacoma Farmer's Market opens for the season. This is my 9th straight year participating in the Tacoma Market, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what we've got in store this year.

Business Deets: The Tacoma Market is located right downtown on Broadway, between 9th & 11th streets, next to the Pantages Theatre and that little park area, one block down from Antique Row. It's largely a lunch hour market for the downtown office folks, but plenty of tourists and locals stop by too. If you don't like huge crowds, come earlier in the morning! We open at 10am and close at 3pm, every Thursday, from May 18 - August 31. The market continues in a little smaller capacity through September to October 19th, closing an hour earlier on those Thursdays at 2pm. Oh, and my little booth? is located in the usual spot. I've got a colorful striped market umbrella (instead of a boring white tent), propped up right in front of "Pastrami's Deli". It's about mid-block, in front of the Rhodes Building, across from the grassy section. If you see Mike's 'Gig Harbor Rose Farm' sprawled out at the bottom of the stairs to the grassy park - I'm directly across from him.

Marketing Blurble: This is really a fun market to visit because not only is there a wide choice of farmers and handcrafters, there is also musical entertainment each week. We've got a huge variety of lunch food tents, entertainment up on the grass, a wonderful array of fruits, vegetables, fresh-cut flowers, plant growers, master gardeners and public service folks, plus a pretty classy bunch of artist type folks too (like me!). We've had steel drum bands, jazz combos, classical stuff, folk music, even tap dancers and Kodo drummers. It's always a party and a fun way to squish a little summer fun into the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, on an otherwise boring day at the office ;)

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I received the most flattering telephone call a week ago. It seems there is an opening for a soapmaker to participate in the Artists in Action demonstration and sale at The Puyallup Fair in September, and I was the first person on their list to fill the spot. It's really quite an honor -- and I couldn't believe they had known about me for years and were just waiting for an open space to have me join them. It's quite a big undertaking, mostly because it lasts through 3 weekends, and is such a large public event. So I'll have to be extra diligent in getting enough inventory ready. But I'm quite thrilled to be a part of this long-standing show. Dates: September 8 through 24, 2006. Hours: Sun -Thurs 10am - 10pm, Fri & Sat 10am - 11pm.

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And finally, the 'Tag - 5 Things' meme:

I was tagged a little while back for the 5 Things meme, but I hadn't quite gotten to it yet. Anyway, here goes...

1. Five minutes to yourself: how would you spend them, ideally?

Sitting on my favorite cushioned chair in the back garden, soaking in the sun and watching the clouds float by overhead

2. Five bucks to spend right now: how would you spend it?

A really decadent chocolate bar or a couple of exotic truffles

3. Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn't thought of already?

I'm ready to purge the closet again and get rid of some old clothes and beat up flip flops.

4. Five items you absolutely, positively could never part with in your house?

My computer (duh), all my photo albums and loose photos still unorganized (several year's worth, sigh) -- though I'm sure if I got around to organizing them there would be a big pile of tossers, my vintage Christmas ornaments and decorations, some antique jewelry, china and linens I've inherited, scads of dishes I've collected. Hmm, sounds like I've got quite a lot more keepers than tossers in these last two questions :)

5. Five words you love?

Stupendous, Excellent, Lollapalooza, Hullabaloo, Adore