Eugene Saturday Market’s Holiday Market opened for the first time this year, Nov. 16, featuring the local artists and small businesses the community has come to love for more than 50 years. 

The Holiday Market is one of the oldest craft markets in the country, opening in the 1970s, debuting in the Lane Events Parking lot with just a few vendors. Today, it has grown to include more than 660 rotating distributors, with around half participating this year. 

In the past, opening day has been slow, but last week, Sonia Ostendorf, Holiday Market’s membership coordinator, was surprised to see the turnout. “There’s just so much history, and it’s a great place for people to come as a community together,” she says. “Sometimes we’re kind of slow, but this last weekend, yesterday,  was super busy, full of people who were just excited to be part of the community.”

Sue Theolasm, a Holiday Market vendor for more than 20 years, says she was pleasantly surprised by the sales, considering it was the first time the market opened two weeks before Thanksgiving. “Here it’s all handmade, there’s no imports, there’s no shortcuts, and when people realize that, they’re like ‘you made all of this!?’ Then it sparks creativity.” Theolasm sells catnip mice, hand-dyed hemp bags and beeswax candles locally sourced from Creswell.

The Holiday Market features more than crafts; it creates a space for local artists to sell their work. Noelle Dass, a 21-year Holiday Market vendor, sells paintings in a style she calls “artimals.” Her work utilizes vivid colors and caricatures to bring the canvas to life. 

“As an artist, much of my work is in isolation. We don’t have co-workers, we don’t have classmates, so when you come here and you see all these people every year, they become your family. That’s my favorite thing about it,” Dass says.

Gloria McCracken has sold her hand-woven, hand-beaded ornament covers for the last seven years, capitalizing on her love for beading every holiday season. “We’re all just a bunch of eclectic people who have found wonderful ways to express themselves creatively. There’s just such variety, and I feel so simpatico with and love this community.”

Ryan Dawes started selling various plants and succulents at Holiday Market two years ago to broaden his company, Alpine Gardens. Dawes and his wife do client-focused shows and events with reptiles as well. Holiday Market is Dawes’ way of retailing for his nursery and staying close to home.

Ostendorf says, “The Holiday markets’ whole goal, in general, is to support local artists and bring up small businesses to make them thrive. There’s been plenty of businesses that have started at Saturday Market or Holiday Market that have now outgrown Holiday Market.”

The Holiday Market is open from 10 am to 6 pm every weekend until Christmas Eve, in addition to Friday, Nov. 29, Monday, Dec. 23 and Tuesday, Dec. 24, at the Lane Events Center, 796 W. 13th Avenue. Find more info at EugeneSaturdayMarket.org, call 541-686-8885 and at @saturdaymarket on Instagram.