By Jeanie Senior

The Goldendale SaturdayMarket—started last summerto stimulate trade and lure

motorists off U.S. 97—this year isdrawing not only tourists, butlocals.

“We have a group of incrediblevendors who are very dedicated tothe whole open air market con-cept,” says organizer EarleneSullivan, who uses words such asexcitement and magic to describethe atmosphere of the market.

Best of all, “we’re seeing morelocal folks come,” she says. “Manyof the vendors have commented onhow cool that is. Last year, themajority of our customer base wasdefinitely coming off the highway.”

Shoppers who visit the market—open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each

Saturday on the lawn in front of theGoldendale Chamber of Com-merce offices at 903 E. BroadwaySt.—are likely to find a diverse andenticing selection.

On a recent Saturday sale, itemsranged from homemade jams andjellies to handmade wood furniture;hand-sewn, hand-knit and hand-crocheted clothing to fresh-bakedpastries and bread; and honey tobird feeders and birdhouses.

“It’s always a surprise, from oneweek to the next, who might beshowing up,” says Earlene.

Watching the vendor and cus-tomer count grow is one of thehappy surprises. At the market’slaunch on June 18, 2005, nine ven-dors and 90 customers showed up.

“By the end of the season, wewere averaging right at 300 cus-tomers, and the vendor count haddoubled,” says Earlene.

When the Saturday marketopened May 13 this year, there were600 customers and 22 vendors.

The next Saturday, it was windyand cold, but the market still drew300 customers and 18 vendors.

Earlene walks around the markettalking to visitors and using a click-er to keep count.

That is how she discovered theshoppers came from as far away asAustralia and Germany, and Calif-ornia, Arizona, Montana, Wyo-ming, Colorado, Washington andOregon.

At Zane’s Honey Booth, Me-linda Weiss and Diane Wilsonemphasize they sell Klickitat Coun-ty honey. The bees that producethe honey gather their nectar fromKlickitat County wildflowers.

They also sell beeswax items,including candles and lip balm.

Melinda and Diane, who canprovide reams of information onhoney’s good qualities, say theirmost popular honey is made fromthe star thistle.

While “the boys”—Zane Kernsand Rob Wilson—are out lookingfor flowers, “we’re watching foot-ball on television and drinkingbeer,” they joke.

Their jesting gets a laugh fromnext-door vendor Debbie Mutton,whose china and crystal bird feed-ers sparkle in the sun.

Debbie, Diane and Melinda aremarket regulars.

Janis Powers of Goldendale hassold her beaded bracelets and neck-laces a few times, and she says sheintends to come more often.

“It’s been really good,” says Janis.“It’s just fun. Some other people I’vetalked to, they will be coming, too.”

Other core vendors includeDawley’s Trading Post, with anarray of handcrafted wood furni-ture—from chairs to beds—madeby Eugene Dawley. Barbara Dawleysometimes dons period clothing inkeeping with her husband’s products.

Vendor Ruth White sells plants,signs and planters; Betty Crennasells plants; retired school teacherArlene Dolan sells silk flower cen-terpieces; and Smoky and NormaBaasch handcraft birdhouses and

4 AUGUST 2006 KLICKITAT

Market Day in GoldendaleSaturday Marketenjoys growth in

its second season

Saturday Market organizer Earlene Sullivan, center, chats under the tent with boothvendors Smoky and Norma Baasch.

c-18 pp 4-5 august.qxd 7/18/2006 8:11 AM Page 2

bird feeders.Jennifer Holycross offers a selec-

tion of fresh fruit jams and jellies;Sharon Reese knits slippers, socksand booties.

Other market stalwarts includejewelry makers Lorri and JerryCarr; Annette Ruckert’s MoonriseJewelry; Larry and Karen Tremble,with birdhouse decor; Gayla Frey,who sews little girl dresses, babygarments and quilts; artist CharleneMorrison, who sells watercolorsand drawings; Melodee Goodrich,who makes soaps and toiletries;Carol and Robert Thatcher, whosells scarves, cookies and kitchentowels; and Dave and Jude Carol’sice candles.

The “Singing Chef” Tom Beck—who with his wife sells hot dogs andGerman sausages—entertains the

market with a song list of oldfavorites.

Baker Karla Phillips adaptedrecipes in an heirloom cookbookbequeathed by her grandmother forthe bread, pies, cookies, scones,muffins and rolls she sells. Shestarts baking on Thursday to havesufficient goods for the market.

Earlene says organizers areworking to attract more fresh pro-duce to the market.

“We have advertised heavily, let-ting people know that we weregoing to be opening and that weneeded fresh fruit and vegetables,”she says, noting that not a lot isavailable until after July 4. “I hopewe get some real takers that under-stand the importance of this. If it’san open air market, people do wantfresh fruit. Fingers crossed.”

There also areplans for a consign-ment booth where“backyard farmers”with an excess of, say,tomatoes, but whodon’t want to set uptheir own booth, cansell fruit and vegeta-bles.

The market boardalso decided to letyoungsters 15 andunder get acquaintedwith the free enter-prise system byallowing them boothspace for free thefirst Saturday of eachmonth.

The GoldendaleSaturday Market islicensed with thestate of Washingtonas an association.Vendors pay a $5annual membershipfee, and $5 or $10for market stallspace, depending onsize. They get a dis-count if they pay forthe space in advance.

The market grewfrom a conversation

Earlene and her husband, Ron, hadwith Goldendale events plannerLorraine Reynolds about ways toperk up business.

“Lorraine said open air marketsseem to work,” Earlene recalls

Ron proposed holding a coupleof meetings. Good turnouts at themeetings indicated an interest.

Last year, the season stretched anextra two months, when the marketmoved into a vacant storefrontdowntown.

Vendors already have decidednot to stretch the season so longthis year, although Earlene saysthey are discussing holding aChristmas bazaar.

A five-year business plan wouldexpand the open air market tooperate at market stalls in down-town. ■■

KLICKITAT AUGUST 2006 5

Melinda Weiss and Diane Wilson enjoy a laugh at Zane’s Honey booth.

c-18 pp 4-5 august.qxd 7/18/2006 8:11 AM Page 3