To market to market.......

Today was the opening day for the outdoor Freight House Farmers' Market. I sometimes do not relish getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays-even before my roosters have awakened, to load the truck, drive all the way downtown and get my booth set up before the sun comes up, but I must admit I was very excited this morning at the prospect of seeing my fellow vendors and my favorite customers again. There is always somewhat of a party atmosphere at market, especially so on opening day.

See, there was even a marching band performing!

Even some of the dogs got in on the celebration.....I am not sure what a dog has to do to get this number of Mardi Gras beads.....

One of the things that draws many people to the market is the endless array of goodies. Unfortunately, I am drawn to the goodies as well and I am forced to be in close proximity to them for a good portion of every Saturday. Most people gain extra weight in the winter, but I place the blame for my summer 'Farmer's Market 5' squarely on the shoulders (or pastries) of my market buddies....or ARE they my buddies???

Market generally turns into a 5 hour long brunch.
I guess you could eat healthy...if you wanted to.....but I don't eat meat so I clearly had no choice but the goodies.
My other downfall is the selection of beautiful plants that are available. I am probably safe for the short term since most of the bedding plants are not quite ready for sale..yet. I will be in HUGE trouble when my next door vendor returns with his Hostas. I am addicted to hostas and unfortunately there are thousands of varieties and even a few that I don't have..yet. Maybe...a few. There were lots of nice hanging baskets this week though.


It was also fun to see all of my canine friends again. There are three booths that sell gourmet doggie treats so there are a large number of dogs in attendance at the market. Like these three cuties.
Oops, four.
There are also ample opportunities for 'people watching'. It is one of the few places where you can see manly-men doing what they probably consider to be kind of unmanly-man stuff. Like carrying around baskets of pretty flowers for their wives....and looking SO excited about it.
Or walking his wife's cute little dog that happens to be sporting a John Deere tee-shirt and bandanna....maybe the John Deere tee-shirt was an attempt to 'man up' the little dog.

Or carrying a hot dog shaped balloon.........
Yep, I needed to see that again too....
I am really hoping that this guy is a hot dog vendor.

Thanks to all of my regular customers for making it a great day today and for finding me after the market shuffle.