Maker's mart: Portland Bazaar

Record crowds fill vacant former factory two weekends a year

There’s a market mob bearing down on Northwest Portland. People are flocking to the Portland Bazaar to buy directly from our city’s best makers and small businesses.

The event’s second weekend is Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., at the refurbished Premier Gear Building on NW Thurman, between 17^th and 18^th avenues. The building sits empty and fenced off the rest of the year, but for two weekends the lights are on and it’s packed, so get there early.

To market we go. Last Saturday’s event had the highest attendance ever, organizers said. All photos courtesy of AJ Meeker.

The street in front of the main entrance is closed to cars this year. There’s a coffee cart, dumpling cart and a chai truck instead. Needing gallons of coffee after working long holiday hours, I headed inside, where a cute little trailer stocked with Portland’s Straightaway canned cocktails greeted me.

Welcome to an avalanche of Portlandness, a head-spinning hive where everything from molded beeswax candles to Thunderpants, the brightly patterned Portland-made underwear, are peddled. Wander aisles of handmade goods sold by 200 local makers, vendors and thrifters, all rejoicing in a kind of freewheeling commerce that’s anything but corporate.

“People want to hang out and they want to have an experience, so we’ve added more food and drink this year,” said Jenna Winkler, a Portland Bazaar organizer.

As one wild-eyed vendor named Lynzee Lynx said, “People know shopping on Amazon will kill all of this.”

“People want to hang out and they want to have an experience, so we’ve added more food and drink this year,” said Jenna Winkler, a Portland Bazaar organizer. She and her business partner, Delia Tethong, launched Portland Bazaar in 2011. Five years ago, they expanded the event to run for two weekends during the holidays, which vendors prefer because they can leave their elaborate stalls up for the duration.

One artists sell watercolors of Portland. There’s also beautifully iced holiday cookes, ceramic thimble cups, accessories and clothing, jewelry, lamps, handbags, wool bonnets, socks and ornaments.

Winkler and Tethong also produce November’s European Bazaar in the Goat Blocks on the Central Eastside, Street Bazaar in Pioneer Square in the summer, and they recently launched a market in San Diego.

“We had our highest attended weekend—our biggest day ever—last Saturday,” Winkler said, with more than 15,000 people on each day. The formula works, she said, because they bring together experienced makers with up-and-comers.

“We do a lot of hand selecting and curating to create a good variety,” she added. “Plus, a lot of the people here don’t usually do other markets.”