The Juneau Public Market and Native Artist Market won\u2019t be the same old song and dance when doors open because this year there will actually be song and dance.<\/p>\n
Public Market organizer Peter Metcalfe said this year\u2019s event, which begins at noon Friday at Centennial Hall with additional booths at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center, will include \u201cquite a few appearances from groups serenading and entertaining\u201d shoppers, including cello to acapella groups. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a little more entertainment than we\u2019ve had in the past,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say there won\u2019t be plenty of vendors and items for sale that can only be found in Alaska. In that regard, not much will change.<\/p>\n
Metcalfe said 170 vendors will be present at this weekend\u2019s public market held Friday through Sunday, about a third of which didn\u2019t participate in 2014. <\/p>\n
About half of the vendors are local, with the rest spread throughout Alaskan communities as far away as Shishmaref, a city of about 560 people that sits 126 miles north of Nome on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea. The event also will include artisans from Ohio, California, Washington and Oregon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is your only chance to have a wide selection of made-in-Alaska products and meet the artisans themselves,\u201d Metcalfe said, adding that socializing is every bit as much of the experience as shopping. \u201c… Like anybody else, I see people I haven\u2019t seen all year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another thing unlikely to change since the event began in July 1983 in a single ballroom at Centennial Hall will be the crowd. <\/p>\n
\u201cA long time ago we reached the glass ceiling,\u201d Metcalfe said. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been full.\u201d <\/p>\n
But he has a few suggestions for those who want to attend the market but not be caught up in the crowd: show up a few hours before close Friday and Saturday, or wait until Sunday when there\u2019s half as many people.<\/p>\n
The Juneau Public Market began in 1983 as a way for local artists to showcase their work in a similar fashion to Seattle\u2019s Pike Place Market in Seattle, Metcalfe said. In its first year, the market was only in Centennial Hall\u2019s Sheffield Ballroom, but \u201cthere were so many people in the lobby they had trouble opening the ballroom doors,\u201d Metcalfe said. \u201cYou know you\u2019re onto something good when that\u2019s a problem.\u201d <\/p>\n
In 1991, the market expanded to take up all of Centennial Hall, and in 2005 it took over the JACC just across the parking lot. <\/p>\n
Weekend admission to Centennial Hall is $7; entry to the JACC is free. It will be open noon to 5 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. <\/p>\n
Metcalfe said those wanting to participate in the 2016 Juneau Public Market should contact him by June or early July at the latest when \u201cchances are 100 percent increased\u201d to reserve a spot. For contact information visit www.juneaupublicmarket.com.<\/p>\n
\nNative artist market<\/strong><\/p>\n Across the street from public market at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Willoughby Avenue will be the second iteration of the Native Artist Market. Its hours have changed to match those of the public market.<\/p>\n Myrna Gardner, business and economic development manager with the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, is hoping to draw the same kind of crowd as public market.<\/p>\n \u201cIt kind of fluttered in and out\u201d in 2014, she said. \u201cThis year I think it\u2019s going to be a lot different\u201d thanks to THCC\u2019s social media campaign.<\/p>\n The Native Artist Market, which is free to enter, will have 20 vendors on site this year. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have some from Metlakatla, Kake, of course here in Juneau, and we\u2019ve got an artist coming from Haidagwaii\u201d in the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, Gardner said. \u201c(Attendees are) going to be able to find a gift that is an expression of love for that individual and which is unique to them, and which you can\u2019t find at a box store.\u201d<\/p>\n A few artists to be featured this weekend are Haida weaver Dolly Garza and Carol Feller Brady, author of \u201cThrough the Storm Towards the Sun.\u201d Gardner said attendees will be sure to see lots of clothing, bead work and custom stockings, too.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m constantly amazed when I see different designs or clothing and jewelry,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m astounded by their creativity.\u201d <\/p>\n The Native Artist Market also will have its own entertainment. The Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain high school jazz bands will perform Saturday and Sunday, and the All Nations Children Dancers, a local youth dance group, will be there fundraising and selling fry bread. Gardner said it was important to THCC to include nonprofits and other groups into the fray. <\/p>\n \u201cBecause this is a tribal enterprise, we\u2019re supporting other nonprofit organizations,\u201d she said. \u201cThis year we selected All Nations Children, but there are other worthy nonprofit organizations too. … We\u2019re going to continue this partnership of helping other entities.\u201d<\/p>\n Gardner said a donation was made to the high school jazz bands to assist with their travel costs in exchange for booking their talents. <\/p>\n \u201cFor us, this is a smaller version of the public market,\u201d she said. \u201cFor artists, it\u2019s another way of identifying who they are and what tribe they\u2019re from, and having the ability to use all of our resources gives them a broader audience and potential customer base.\u201d<\/p>\n Gardner said THCC will begin thinking about next year\u2019s market starting in January. To learn more call (800) 344-1432 ext. 7121.<\/p>\n KNOW & GO<\/p>\n Juneau Public Market<\/p>\n Centennial Hall ($7) and the JACC (free)<\/p>\n Noon to 5 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday<\/p>\n Native Artist Market<\/p>\n Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall (free)<\/p>\n Noon to 5 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Juneau Public Market and Native Artist Market won\u2019t be the same old song and dance when doors open because this year there will actually be song and dance. Public Market organizer Peter Metcalfe said this year\u2019s event, which begins at noon Friday at Centennial Hall with additional booths at the Juneau Arts and Culture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":31313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-31312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31312"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=31312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}