Friday, July 25, 2008

Market Madhouse

No great pictures of last week's market this time: It was simply too packed! Even more amazing, it was packed in the midst of scattered thunderstorms. We sat one shower out under a tree, made our purchases (basil and new potatoes), and took off.

The driver in blue car at the front of this line parked here for God-knows-how-long, waiting out a parking space in the front row, hence creating a terrible bottleneck in traffic. This guy jammed traffic through the entire south parking lot AND the east parking lot, as folks rounding the corner couldn't, well, round the corner. That guy in the orange shirt has had enough. I didn't stick around to watch the fight.



It was raining in this pic; you can see how many people cared not. Getting pix of fruit and veggies in this crowd is trying. I didn't try.


And as far as crowd control goes, I'm not sure why the market folks cordon off a 20-foot entryway to make it 3-feet wide. Throw in dogs, wheelchairs, strollers, walkers, and 1000 people trying to get in AND out of this area, and you get quite a bottleneck here too. Clint and I found ourselves just standing in line to get out of here.


In addition to our veggies, we picked up a bag of homemade pasta. We bought the spicy cajun angel hair, and plan to toss it with shrimp and fresh tomatoes. This is Pasta Alley, out of Decatur, Illinois. The company is a developmental services company, providing jobs to handicapped persons who are quite capable of making some great pasta. Check them out tomorrow!


I'd normally love these market crowds; I'd like to just park myself and my camera on a curb, and wait for an interesting shot. As I've said before, though, it's a different sort of year, and Clint and I were racing rain on Saturday, trying to get something accomplished before we were stormed out of our jobs at the house.

Next week's market report will be a good one. We're heading to St. Louis, and Clint's daughter Jen, knowing my love for a good market, will be taking me to The Soulard Farmer's Market.

Hm. Starts at 6 a.m....think I can drag her out of bed to have me there by opening time?

8 comments:

  1. Oooh...I love markets! They have the coolest stuff!

    Invite me over for that pasta~! It sounds wonderful!

    Have fun at the new market!

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  2. Have you been before to the market in STL? I went a few years back. It's wonderful, be careful of the spice shop, it's very dangerous! Have a great weekend.

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  3. RLL: I love markets too! They'll have to drag me kicking and screaming out of Soulard tomorrow!

    Mim: I haven't been to this market; my heart's racing already at the prospect of it. Whoo hoo!

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  4. You know...there's a Really Great market here every weekend. I'm just saying...

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  5. We had a traffic jam at our market too yesterday. Some fool was supposed to follow me out of the market because I knew the way but he decided to go around me and ended up getting stuck and causing a bad traffic jam. Oh well what can you do.

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  6. You would have fun at "Tianguis" (Street markets) in Mexico City.

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  7. The Soulard Farmer's Market is usually really good, kind of a neat old French Quarter section to it. Hope the heat dies down a bit, so hot here in KC!!!

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  8. Hey, I didn't know about that pasta. Thanks, I'll have to try some. I really hate dealing with the crowds at the market. I mean, I love the fact that the market is thriving, but it's SO hard to get anything accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. Which just means that I have to get myself out of bed earlier!

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