The Portland Farmers Market

July 9, 4:40 PMPortland Twenty-Something ExaminerAli Reingold

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photo from flickr user dolanh

Here are things that almost always make you feel good when you are around them: happy dogs; string bands; cute, curly-haired toddlers, especially when they’re play-fighting with balloon swords; flowers; home-grown vegetables; friendly people that agree with you on issues like gay marriage; big trees; and most importantly, free samples of all things delicious. 

The Portland Farmers Market at PSU makes you feel good over and over again. Happy dogs, check. Scrappy-looking, yodeling fiddlers, check. Babies wearing Patagucci (and inevitably more fashionable than you), check. Flowers, veggies, trees, check, check, check. Like-minded people who are smiling progressive liberal smiles, check. And samples? Oh baby. This requires some discussion. There are several stands with cheese samples (and I feel confident saying that cheese is one of mankind’s favorite things...generally speaking and over the course of time). There are several stands with raw honey samples of different varieties. There are lavender jam samples and tons of raspberries and blackberries and cherries, and there are roasted hazelnuts and chocolate samples and pâté samples and fancy pesto-y spread samples and, of course, Dave’s Killer Bread, which is the best bread ever.* Furthermore, there are meat-sellers and olive oil makers and so many vegetables that you can’t even identify. And let us not neglect to mention the stand that sells yak meat. Because we all love yak meat.

There is a small stage in the middle of everything where the featured band plays - usually something folksy or bluesy, although one time a Peruvian pan flute ensemble was unfortunately piping away (and really, aren’t most Peruvian pan flute ensembles unfortunate?). Close by the stage are the food vendors that sell actual meals to the market goers. You can get homemade soup, tamales, crepes, pigs in a blanket, biscuits and gravy (Pine State Biscuits apparently started out as a cart here before establishing the restaurant on Belmont), and wonderful-looking pita sandwiches that Dolores and I keep saying we will try someday. The Farmers Market is probably one of the best places to get brunch on a Saturday - equally delicious and less expensive than the restaurants. And you know how much I love brunch.

There are other Portland Farmers Markets besides the one at PSU, but that one is the biggest and baddest. I’ve never actually been to the other ones, but I’m sure they induce a similar feeling of unbounded joy and faith in humanity. At the PSU market last Saturday, though, we ran into the awesome female drummer from Sasparilla Jug Band, whom we had seen at Mississippi Studios the night of our creme-filled donut adventure. She was at a stand selling honey. Obviously we bought some from her. So there’s one reason to go to the PSU market.

If you haven’t been yet, go to the Farmers Market this Saturday. It’s great people watching, and it’s so very Portland. Maybe the bagpiping unicycler will even be there, who knows?

Organically,
Your Portland Twenty-something

*Turns out Dave was actually a convicted felon and did time for 15 years before straightening himself out and going into the bread business like his dear old dad. You can watch an inspirational video about it on his website, complete with crime scene reenactments, like on America’s Most Wanted. It’s pretty sweet.