The market season in Alaska is upon us. We started our first farmer’s market on Friday, the one locally here in Willow. I love the Willow Farmer’s Market and always look forward to when it starts.

This year I have help from my oldest daughter. We started a business together doing custom sublimated photo items about 9 months ago. So this market season we will have my art for sale in all of it’s many forms, and also be doing the on demand printing.

I never realized how nice it is to have 2 people at the booth. There’s a lot more freedom to visit with people. When lots of people come into the booth, 2 people easily answer questions and take care of customers more efficiently. Also, visiting with the many other vendors I’ve become friends with over the years is easier when you don’t have to be worried about rushing back when someone browses past the booth.

The first year I started doing markets I traveled all over our little valley, got lots of business licenses for the different towns, and tried all sorts of other venues. I gave it a whole summer worth of tries, and discovered I made more money in my home town than anywhere else, combined!

Since then I have stayed pretty much in Willow, not only because of the success, but also because not long after I started selling at markets the cost of gas tripled. So, between the cost of gas, the time it took to get to other markets, set up, stand there for 6-8 hours, tear down, and get home, and then to barely make enough money to cover the cost of the booth fee a lot of the time, I decided it really wasn’t worth the effort.

This week I did learn about a new market about 20 miles north though, that I will be thinking very seriously about trying. It’s free, so there’s a chunk of money that I don’t have to worry about. The location is good as well. It’s at a lodge called Sheep Creek Lodge in their parking lot, and it’s right on the highway so very highly visible. I think I’ll be trying that one when it opens in a couple of weeks if my daughter is game to try as well.

The market season extends until Christmas, transitioning from outdoor markets to indoor, and transitioning from tourist traffic to Christmas presents and more wintery items for locals. After the summer markets, the indoor ones are a little more spread out on the calendar, but do seem to be a bit more competitive to get into. But just as the summer markets I stay pretty close to home, I don’t travel far for the winter ones either.

If you ever come to Willow and are here on a Friday afternoon, stop by and say hi! I’ll be there almost ever week, missing only one (hopefully) to go to a Young Women camp in July.