Sunday, May 25, 2008

Fremont Sunday Market


In the spirit of disclosure, I have to admit that we went to the Fremont Sunday Market today and I did not bring my camera. Bad, blogger, bad! I will try to be a better blogger tomorrow. For now, I am using an image from this Web site that provides really good information about the funky, artsy, good-humored neighborhood we call Fremont. This is really what it looked like today: Sunny skies, short-and-Ts weather and a lot of color.

Fremont sits in the northern part of Seattle and is quite an eclectic place. There is a statue of Vladmir Lenin standing near a Taco del Mar eatery and a giant troll grabbing a Volkswagen under a bridge. In the summer, we look forward to the Fremont Solstice Parade, which starts off with creatively painted nude bicyclists zipping by (the uptights have a field day with this one) and continues with an amazingly creative and funny procession of non-commercial, non-motorized displays. I don't think my kids ever see me laugh as much as I do during the parade. If we go this year, I promise to bring my camera.

In Fremont, there is also a corporate presence, represented by companies such as Adobe, Google and Getty Images. As I mentioned, it's pretty eclectic there.

The Fremont Sunday Market is the bomb. There are so many vendors selling food, flowers, produce, textiles, collectibles, used CDs, toys, etc. The dog-watching is pretty fun, too, especially since there are more dogs than children in Seattle. I bought a new cotton bucket-style hat for $10. My son, Mr. Pubescent-Rocker, bought a used Metallica CD for $4 and a used Swiss Army knife for $5. The vendor had a ton of Swiss Army knives in a variety of colors and said they came via airport security confiscation. I got my daughter, Miss Thang, a necklace with carved wooden zebras on it for $1. The necklace really does look as hokey as it sounds, but hey, it was $1, and Miss Thang cherishes it. My husband, the Silent Swede, didn't buy anything, but he did enjoy munching on the fresh Kettle Corn we bought from one of the booths.

Even if you don't buy anything, the Market a fun place to people-watch, chat with the vendors and look around at all the collectibles. I was tempted to buy my sister Lena, who used to worship New Kids on the Block, an old "New Kids Sucks" T-shirt, but I couldn't pony up the $15 asking price. Sorry, Lena. You can always catch them if they do a concert here, because, quelle horreur, they are touring again!

I was also tempted to buy a roll of toilet paper that featured George W. Bush's smiling mug on every square but restrained myself because I AM on a budget. At that same booth, I also refrained from buying the sticker that said, "I see your point but I still think you're full of shit." I'm going to have use that phrase more often.

After we were done with the Market, we walked down about a block to sit near the water, munch a little more on our Kettle Corn and check out all the kayakers, bikers and boaters who came on by. "It's better than watching a movie!" enthused Miss Thang and I have to agree with her.

1 comment:

Mokihana said...

I feel the same way about the Gresham Farmers' Market, though it's much more small than yours one. People take their dogs and just wander from vendor to vendor. It's a fun place to be on a Saturday. And next Sunday the one in Boring starts up... it's VERY small, but closer to where we live and getting more big every year.

Great post!