Once again, we had a blast at the Mississippi Street Fair, but this year we were on the other side of the vendor aisle: Heather and I manned the Crafty Smackdown table, where we sold Heather’s paintings, her sister Meredith’s necklaces, and our friend Cynthia’s hand made cards.
We arrived around 8am to check in. Below is an early morning shot taken from Skidmore. Not much going on yet besides canopy construction.
We noted while we signed in that a German Pub called Prost is opening in the fall at the formerly derelict, now exquisitely appointed building at the southwest corner of Skidmore and Mississippi. It will soon be surrounded by Portland’s first curated food cart and market pod.
If it’s any good, no doubt I will become a regular – I have a well known weakness for German bier and food.
We got our vendor location assignment, between Pistils and Failing Street on the west side of the street, and got to work setting things up.
Traditionally we make the obligatory Skidmore to Fremont circuit once, then ensconce ourselves at the Crow Bar‘s roped off sidewalk and spend the afternoon enjoying frozen mango-ritas. This year our duties prevented us from straying too far from the table, but Heather graciously held down the fort solo for a while; my friend Jake and I got the first Margarita of the day at Moloko Plus at about 11:45 (Crow Bar wasn’t open yet). But most of the day was spent at our vendor table people watching, engaging customers, and applying sunscreen – once the clouds burnt off around 1pm, it was hot!
Working at the street fair as a vendor was a learning experience, and we actually sold quite a few items. A lot of friends stopped by to wish us luck and say howdy – thanks! It was a long day, but we had a great time. After we wrapped up we stopped in at It’s A Beautiful Pizza to decompress (via pizza and beer) and to visit Katie and Justin, who where throwing their fourth successful Wax Broker Riot, this one on the back patio. Not a bad way to wrap up the day!
Below are some more random photos of a fantastic fair (thanks to Mark Goldstein for many of the photos!). And make sure to visit Mile73.com for more.
I really wanted to go to the street fair, but we had plans for the zoo with family visiting from California (which was lots of fun, so I’m not TOO sad). Looks like a blast, we’ll have to make it a priority next year!
oasispaw – I’ve been almost all the neighborhood street fairs and Mississippi Ave’s is my favorite – definitely try to make it next year! There are still some good ones later this summer: Clinton-Division, Hawthorne, Multnomah Village, Fremont.
Prost is from Seattle. http://web.me.com/germanpubs/Site/Our_Story.html
Lendog – Gah! I was wondering why the domain name was in the plural, since on the Portland landing page it says nothing about other pubs.
I want an Elvis baby wrap!!! I don’t have babies, but who cares when you could have an Elvis cut out with a thrown in baby wrap!! I love Portland.
4th bar, sounds like an budding McMenamins. Nothing is worse than authentic German food, bland and heavy.
Then, Glovid, you have not had authentic German food.
Hello, Would it be OK to use one of your photos above for a feature on Mississippi Avenue? (With proper photo credit, of course.) Thank you.
I’m trying to locate a list of the artists at the 09 fair – anyone have any idea of where to find such a list? Isn’t on the Miss. Ave. website. Would appreciate any help! Specifically, a custom handbag maker, using Asian style fabrics. She doesn’t have a store, works out of her home/studio, but I lost her biz card. Thanks!
I heard from a fellow crafter about your event, and would like to participate next year. Possible? I make (and sell) Japanese-style items from re-cycled wood. (503)788-8378 Thanks.