Astoria's Sunday Market

Sunday I went to the Astoria Sunday Market. This market has been going on for years, but it has just never worked out that I could go. Actually, guilt was probably a factor in my not going sooner. I feel guilty if I’m not doing something for my mother or family and just taking a couple of hours to go do something I want to do isn’t easy. Sunday morning I decided the Sunday had come for me to go.

Astoria, Oregon, long a sad town with vacant shops downtown, is coming back into its own with galleries and book stores as well as organic bakeries and grocery stores. Add the Sunday Market into the downtown area and finding a parking place was hard. I drove around for quite a while and was on the verge of giving up when I found one near to the market.

As soon as I began to look at the booths I was instantly rewarded. We have been doing a lot of landscaping around our old Victorian cottage in Ilwaco and I had been looking for a Rose-of-Sharon that was just the right color for a couple of years. The second booth I walked by had a lavender one for $6. I was able to take it to the car and finish strolling (with a ridiculous grin) the market without lugging it around.

Astoria has a thriving art community and so there were plenty of photographs, pottery, paintings and crafts to look at intermingled with plants, fruit and vegetables. Besides the stalls of the market I ducked into Godfather Books where I purchased a copy of Jane Kirkpatrick’s A Tendering in the Storm which is set on Willapa Bay and Gypsy’s Whimsy just to smell the incense. The book has gone to the top of my stack of books to read and seems appropriate since I am staying a few miles from the bay.

In keeping with my New Year’s Resolution of not acquiring so much stuff I resisted the urge to buy anything else, except a peanut butter cookie. I tasted bread from the Blue Scorcher Organic Bakery and then forgot to go back and buy a loaf. Fortunately I know where the bakery is and when we go to do serious shopping I will stop and get some bread.

All in all, Astoria’s Sunday Market was a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning. If cooling off at the coast sounds good to you, plan your trip to include a Sunday and check out Astoria’s Sunday Market.