Buy Local: Shop Often: Get to know the Artists, Farmers and Exhibitors

Do you want to be a part of an effective economic change?  If so, buy local.  Shop from small merchants, farmers, artists/crafters, and markets....and in the nation's capitol there is no better "first stop and shop" than the open air markets on Saturday and Sunday at Eastern Market.  These markets were started by local folk John Harrod (The Arts and Crafts Festival on Saturdays) and Tom Rall (The Flea Market at Eastern Market on Sundays)  for local folk, the Capitol Hill Community, who have been loyal supporters for three decades.

Manatho Masani: upclycling sculpture, surrounded by some of his many adoring fans

There is nothing more satisfying that sitting down to a home cooked meal made from locally grown produce. Any holiday celebration or regular meal is richer, tastier, and healthier when it's locally grown.

        Mr. "Bunk" Knopp of Knopp Farm and Green houses. His family has been farming since 1889


“Even if you don’t have a garden, you can still be part of a garden community and share in what is garden grown by buying your produce from farmers’ markets.” Michelle Obama in AMERICAN GROWN


                                http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/AmericanGrown?fref=ts



Another of the many  special aspects of the outdoor weekend markets are the wide variety of products on offer.

BAMI Products

One can find handmade soaps, jewelry, paintings, objets d'art, clothes, "fair trade" international imports like grass woven bags from Madagascar, and much more.

Aurora Bath jewels

Turtle's Webb

                                                                        Leah Sturgis

Andrea Haffner

Jeana Michelle: Range of Emotion

Sola Ope: Scarvalous

Quest Skinner

Dan Kessler

Tsolmon Damba

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-First-Lady-at-the-Ribbon-Cutting-Ceremony-at-the-Metropolitan-Museum-of-Art-American-Wing/ 

Thomas Bucci

Red Persimmon Imports

Steve Miller : photograpghy

Blue Ridge Cutting Boards

                                                            Paul Bierman: BoxBoy

 

Erica Rubel: letter and key holders

Wow, there is so much to see at the market someone should...write about it. And someone has--so try a little research!  Find out what to look for before you shop.  There is so much here to see, hear, smell, and taste (though please don't touch or take pictures without asking).  An informed consumer is a wise one. Plus, the merchants/farmers/artists loves it when one tells them -'I have read about you or wow I saw a piece of yours on a friend/colleague or at so and so's house or ..."  And after this conversational ice breaker these hard working merchants/artists/farmers will tend to me more talkative and informative about there wears.

However, that is not all:  one of the creators of this market, Tom Rall, in partnership, has grown the Market to include a wonderful once a year event- The DownTown Holiday Market

Many of the merchants and artists/crafters at Eastern Market helped found this must-see, must-shop holiday treat.

The DownTown Holiday Market: 2011

Still not sure?  Really, why should we shop local?  The site Sustainable Connections puts it best.

http://sustainableconnections.org/thinklocal/why

Top Ten reasons to Think Local - Buy Local - Be Local

1.Buy Local -- Support yourself: Several studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms -- continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community.

2.Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses.

3.Keep our community unique: Where we shop, where we eat and have fun -- all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit. “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust

4.Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.

5.Create more good jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally...
6.Get better service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers.

7.Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.

8.Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.

9.Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

10.Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.
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Witnessing,

Sonda T. Allen
Turtle's Webb

Washington DC City Council Hearing on 2012 Legislation governing Eastern Market

Washington DC City Council Hearing on 2012 Legislation governing Eastern Market
July 2, 2012
Committee on Government Operations, Muriel Bowser, Chairperson

Save the Flea Market at Eastern Market: Sign the Petition

Save The Flea Market at Eastern Market

Sign the petition

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-the-flea-market-at-eastern-market#

Most of The Flea Market at Eastern Market will be eliminated under a development proposal for the site of Hine Junior High School that will go before the DC Zoning Board on June 14.

Developers Stanton-EastBanc and the DC Zoning Board have to find a home for The Flea Market at Eastern Market that will work for the exhibitors and their legions of customers.



The market provides up to 150 spaces for vendors and approximately 15,000 people visit the flea market on a typical weekend. Everything from antique furniture to maps, art, photography, clothing and textiles are sold. The Flea Market at Eastern Market has been a vibrant incubator space for small businesses as well as a treasured neighborhood meeting place. When the original Eastern Market building was gutted by fire in 2006 The Flea Market at Eastern Market carried on. It’s a neighborhood institution and a landmark in its own right.



Despite pledges of the developers to preserve the market, albeit at half the current size, the proposal actually cuts by two-thirds the space for vendors and customers, eliminating 38,000 square feet of market space from the current configuration. Water features, street furniture and plantings are continually being added to the design that will further reduce usable space.



A reconfigured design could accommodate the Flea Market. It is the responsibility of the developers and the DC Zoning Board to resolve these issues and secure a viable home for the market before the project is allowed to proceed.

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Sign the Petition

Mrs. Doris Little (80 years young ) " The Button Lady" at The Flea Market at Eastern Market
since 1985 wants to "SAVE THE FLEA MARKET".

Please sign the petition for her and all the exhibitors at The Flea Market at Eastern Market.

Thank You!

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-the-flea-market-at-eastern-market

                             Rich Michalski wants to SAVE The Flea Market at Eastern Market





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Mr. William "Rudy" Coates in his own words and John Harrod's vision at Eastern Market

When one says "Back in the Day" that signifies a long time ago or before it changed (gentrified).  However, it is possible to be there at the advent of conception.

I came to the market in 1991 I was in my early 20's.  He came to the north hall in 1974, he was 21 years old.

Social history: " is a branch of history that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life"

So, back in the day when you walked into the north hall -Market 5 Gallery.  One did not have to ask twice who was in charge. John Harrod was "The MAN".  He did not take any shit off any body.  Ask people who knew him.  Some of the stories will make the ears burn.  He had a heart of gold.  But he could and would cuss you out.  And at times would greet you in the morning with, "What the hell are you doing here?"  That was his way of saying good morning. But John gave a damn about people-poor people, odd folk, artists, outcasts, and street kids etc. He helped people.  He went the extra mile and then some.  He did not give up on people. He gave "a brother" a dime, he had "yo back", he was something else.

                                                      "The MAN" Mr. John Harrod

Mr. Harrod was not an easy man.  But there was such vision and beauty inside him.  When he walked through the doors of the north hall,  which was an empty DC storage unit back in 1974 ,he did not come alone.  He brought his right hand man.  A bad ass, a what  the fuck you looking at young man, an "inner city tough", a brother from "roun' the way".   The sayings go "lifting as you climb, each one reach one, each one teach one".   John Harrod did not talk the talk of these sayings.  He walked the walk and gave these words flesh, bone, blood and life.  When Mr. Harrod walked through the doors of the north hall  in 1974 he came to show someone " a young brother" his vision. 


In writing about the exhibitor community at both Market 5 Gallery's Arts and Crafts festival on Saturdays and The Flea Market at Eastern Market on Sundays, I have been given many gifts of trust. There were folks that were at the top of  my  "I want to tell there stories list".  Last year, well I thought I was done.   I had done the best I could with what I had been given.  Then last Sunday, Charles Ellis

                                                    Mr. Charles Ellis: ( love the hat) Assistant Manger
                                                     The Flea Market at Eastern Market. He was also an
                                                      aid to John Harrod at Market 5 Gallery. He has been at the Market
                                                      since 1995


comes over  to my stand and tells me Rudy wants to talk to me. He gives me the number.   I call Rudy and we begin our conversation...

 On the phone, Rudy muses about why there are banners on the market honoring the German Architect of the building  yet no plaque, memorial banner,and/or statue about the American humanitarian, social activist and visionary who conceived and built a community: John Harrod.

At the end of our conversation on Monday.  I am told a story. The story is about grace: "unmerited mercy".  Mr. Coates says to me: "I just feel like I owe him". 


In his own words:  William "Rudy" Coates

In my brief note above, I used expletive language. In doing so I was painting a picture with words of the outer shell of these men.  The measure of these men can be seen, felt and gleaned in watching there actions, in what other's say about them, and in knowing there lives.   In our conversations last Monday,  I told him that the heart of what was the market was still there, still alive, still strong, fierce and loving. 

                                                           Mr. William "Rudy" Coates


  A while back  I wrote about  Vernon Burnett,

                                                             Mr. Vernon Burnett


 assistant market manager, and director of exhibitor relations at The Flea Market at Eastern Market.  I asked him about his life at the market and about his thoughts on life, people, art, etc.  Here is what he wrote about  Mr. Coates ...

"Rudy was John's handyman. He is very creative to say the least, he has training as a car mechanic, contractor, landscaping, painting, and electrical work. I believe he built the gallery walls and maintained them. I have always had a good working relationship with him, despite his quirks, he's got your back.




Do you remember "Market Joe"? He was the alcoholic, thin, salt and pepper straight hair, clean most of the time. He'd sit or lie down at the picnic tables. Sometimes he'd sit on the benches at the natatorium. As a matter of fact, he died on a bench at the natatorium. One Sunday morning when we were setting up, he was laying down on the bench and when someone tried to wake him, they realized that he was deceased

"Market Joe" was a fixture at EM, John looked out for him. He paid me a compliment once that gave me goose bumps. Once during the time when I was playing the flute at the market, he told me that he would sleep sometimes in the top of the EM (he explained it to me, but I could never fully realize where that space was in the market; he mentioned up in the rafters?) He told me he could hear me playing the flute up there, and the first time he heard me, he thought he was in heaven... What surprised me was the fact that the sound traveled that far, the flute is not a loud instrument, but because the building is connected, I could believe it. I learned that Joe was knowledgeable about music, books, and the world in general. Can't judge a book by it's cover.


When I talk about Rudy, I think back to the time I developed a heightened respect for him. During the Christmas Holidays, Rudy would take Joe out to dinner and give hims gifts, he had a sincere respect for Joe, in spite of his station in life. After Joe's death, his body was held at the DC morgue pending being claimed by family. Rudy kept tabs on what was happening. It seems that Joe didn't have any known family, so Rudy got a lawyer (I am sure you know, or have seen her: she was tall; thin as a rail; very stylish; very long hair; glasses; always in high heels. I think she was a District Attorney. She and Rudy claimed the body and gave him a funeral. I remember a tribute to him in Market 5's paper or the Hill Rag. Mr. gruff Rudy is a piece of work. He treats everybody the same, rough. When you get to know him though, he's really a funny, misunderstood, likable curmudgeon, with a fantastic gift of gab.






Rudy is able to grasp a situation, plan long range, delegate authority, and execute it."


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The best stories, that I have been told are ones I can not tell.  John Harrod gave folk a chance, then a second and then a third.  He nourished and cultivated those seeds that fell on  rocky ground.  Now one can  witness the garden  that grew from his rough tending, every weekend at Eastern Market.



witnessing,
Sonda Tamarr Allen



post script:
 thanks Rudy and sorry the video is sideways.

  I am working on...bye and bye

"The Guys"  Sunday 4/1/2012
Charles Ellis, William "Rudy" Coates and David Wright
taking a break at the Market they help build and still manage

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On October 3. 2014 a memorial plaque was dedicated to John Harrod by: Mayor of the District of Columbia : Vincent Gray 

and of course Mr. Coates was there...

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The Danger of a Single Story

http://turtleswebbmyviewfromhere.blogspot.com/2011/08/danger-of-single-story-turtles-webb.html

The historic Flea Market at Eastern Market: A Meditation

This is a short viewing of the historic Flea Market at Eastern Market.  How many exhibitors can you name?  How many exhibitors have you brought from?  What makes a community?  Do you know who built this one?

Witnessing,

Sonda T. Allen

On Morals and Hell Raising

I concur.

Witnessing,

Sonda T. Allen
Turtle's Webb