Novel experiences and items again part of the tradition at 43rd annual Juneau Public Market
- Mark Sabbatini
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
New and longtime vendors fill Centennial Hall and JACC for three-day event that continues through Sunday
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Slingshots and fossilized turtle poop aren’t items typically available in Patty Kalbrener’s small bookstore and cafe. But they were part of a whole new section of merchandise at her first-ever vendor space at the 43rd annual Juneau Public Market on Friday, in anticipation of a huge and diverse crowd of new customers.
"We have a lot of children in our house and we were looking at our wholesale distributors and stuff, and they saw these toys and they’re like ‘You have to get those,’" said Kalbrener, co-president of Lodestone Library and Lounge.
Lodestone was among about 175 vendors at this year’s market that continues through Sunday at Centennial Hall and the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.
Kalbrener said there were a lot of things to learn and adjust to as a first-time exhibitor. Among them was not being able to offer the self-serve coffee and other drinks normally offered on an "honor system" of payments since there’s already a dedicated food area elsewhere in the convention center’s main ballroom. Instead she offered cookies and other edibles made by her mother to people who (hopefully) left money in a cash jar next to the snacks.
Their merchant space spanned multiple tables with various types of merchandise on each, plus holiday decor such as boughs and lights. Kalbrener said the setup design was a group effort with her sister and co-owner, Leslie.
"We had eight hours (to set up) — four hours before Thanksgiving and four hours today — before the start," she said. "We had a plan that we had to completely throw out basically because we came in and realized what we had was much smaller than what we thought. And so we sort of just had to flex and go with it. And I'm having fun with how this is turning out."
Kalbrener said she’d had no time to see what other vendors were selling during the opening hours of the market since "we've been in like, hurricane mode, just pulling this together." But she is a longtime shopper at the event.
"I remember coming here since I was a kid," she said. "So it's kind of become like one of those things like the Folk Festival, or whatever, where your brain almost needs the experience of the event to stay on the correct timeline for Juneau. It's like a seasonal marker."
A short distance away was one of the market’s most popular and longtime vendors, photographer Mark Kelley, who has been selling calendars, cards and a growing list of other items for the past 37 years. He said he’s expanded his original space into a "double-wide" set of tables that’s in the same spot every year, but the setup work by now is routine.
"It takes two hours the day we all do it," he said, referring to the setup day for exhibitors on Thursday. "And then I come in like two hours early today just making sure things are set up, the electronics work — and then I pre-sign calendars so people don’t have to wait."
Photos with a more personal taste were featured at Sweet Spot Studio, another first-time vendor, where people could pose for pictures that were then baked onto cookies within minutes. Jossie Lukacik, owner of the bakery and workshop currently based in North Carolina, said her participation in the public market is a preview before she relocates the business to Juneau in March.
Among the people lining up to get their picture taken were Peyton Rose and Evie Woodrow, both 12, who like some other customers didn’t seem inclined to consume their just-baked creations.
"I'm going to save it until I'm like 48," Rose said. "If I'm 48 I know we'll be bad and I won’t eat it, and so I’ll just keep it."
Woodrow expressed similar thoughts.
"I'm probably just going to keep it in my room and, like, never eat it," she said.
Among the more novel first-time exhibitors — and notably different in theme from the festive feel at most spaces — was Capital City Fire/Rescue in the hallway outside the main ballroom, where CPR dolls and medical rescue equipment were set up. CCFR staff and volunteers staffing the tables allowed visitors to try the basics of performing CPR on the dolls, as part of an awareness effort about a soon-to-be-launched 911 app "that will instantly alert CPR providers to nearby emergency events," according to the department.
The opportunity for a bit of spontaneous training appealed to Piper Ludlam, 16, who said she’s taken a strong interest in first aid through training at her school and beyond.
"I'm in an anatomy class in January and I'm writing a book that involves a lot of first aid incidents," she said.
Watching Ludlam was her grandmother, Joann Simpson, a family practice employee at Bartlett Regional Hospital. She said she was mostly at the market looking for gifts for family, with a tendency to favor handcrafted and other unique items that have been a selling point of the market for decades.
"Twenty or 30 years ago it was a lot smaller, but it was still amazing people that have so much talent," she said.
The public market continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
