CAMANO ISLAND — It’s the season of outdoor markets and festivals.
But one of the newest places for local artisans to show off their wares is taking it inside, part of a local trend that’s taking traditionally outdoor venues under the roof.
Brindle’s Marketplace at Camano Island’s Terry’s Corner in the Camano Commons retail area reopened in October 2009 after a short stint as a restaurant. And as temperatures rise, the market is continuing to pull in vendors and shoppers.
Kim Shelman operates an alpaca farm on the island and has hopped around summer festivals selling clothing and other items made from the wool of her animals.
“We were doing farmers markets all summer — and then summer was over,” she said.
Especially with a product more closely associated with cozy winter nights spent fireside, Shelman wondered about what to do next.
So she leapt at the chance to take one of the first spots at Brindle’s.
Now, Shelman is often found voluntarily running the register, ringing up sales for the building’s some 70 vendors.
As the music of Camano singer and guitarist Ronnda Cadle spilled from speakers, Shelman noted that most of the items found in the building are made by locals, from the Italian immigrant’s paintings on the wall to the Seattle transplant’s fused glass jewelry catching the light.
“There’s a heart to this, too,” Shelman said.
Brindle’s Marketplace first opened in 2004 and was known for its wine tastings, fresh meat and seafood sales and music events.
When her husband passed, building owner Bonnie Brindle transformed the marketplace into a restaurant, Brindle’s Bistro, which enjoyed a one-year stint until the economy came crashing down. At first looking to sell, she turned back to the marketplace idea late last year, putting more focus this time on local artists.
From seasonal to perennial
Consignment opportunities for local artists often are a here-and-there hodge-podge. Jewelry artists and tea makers have found corners on counters in coffee shops and vintage flea markets.
Mostly, though, the summer outdoor arts festivals, farmers markets and Christmas fairs have been the local artist’s bread and butter.
They still are.
But vendors like Shelman and others say having a year-round indoor option pays off — especially with rental costs that are often far below the popular outdoor venues and the region’s most well-known indoor venue, Pike Place Market in Seattle.
Karen Rust, a Camano Island jewelry artist who started selling at Brindle’s from its opening, said she’s only had one month where she made less than rent, which for her is $60 a month plus the market’s 15 percent cut.
Brindle’s commission is lower than the 45 percent cut some Seattle consignment locales take, Rust said. And the rates paid for a month’s worth of space at Brindle’s wouldn’t cover a table for two Saturdays at Pike Place.
The savings isn’t enough to stay away from the arts fairs — for Rust, that includes the Everett waterfront’s Fresh Paint and Stanwood’s Art by the Bay this year — but it fills a niche.
“For me, it’s nice because I’m a stay-at-home mom and do shows on the weekends, and people will ask, ‘Well, is there anywhere you have your work?’ And it’s great because I can say, ‘Yeah, at Brindle’s,’ ” she said.
Similar sentiments are taking hold elsewhere in the region and county.
Perhaps the nearest example to Brindle’s is Pierce County’s Fox Island Indoor Market, a relatively new venture once a month at the Nichols Community Center.
More eclectic efforts, like swap meets and flea markets, also are turning indoors in increasing numbers.
One of the most recent is City Marketplace in Lynnwood, which opened earlier this month in response to the closure of the seasonal swap meet held at south Everett’s Puget Park Drive-In.
Market co-manager Dean Duckett said competing with outdoor swap meets and markets — even on sunny, festival-filled weekends — has helped the new business prove itself.
“Our first weekend we got 2,200 people through our doors,” Duckett said.
He hopes to soon average at least 3,000 customers a weekend, as well as draw more vendors now that the city of Lynnwood revised its business licenses fees to help vendors get in for $40.
Face-to-face still key
Many local artists say the economy has, in some ways, helped their craft, with people paying closer attention to what they spend their money on.
“I know that there’s less people going out, but the ones who do say that’s what they want to do — support locals,” said Reggie Kastler, a Redmond weaver who sells baskets at Brindle’s and often stays with her daughter in Marysville when she teaches classes on the island.
“I have a feeling it has a lot to do with what your craft is and whether it’s really a craft,” she said, versus “a grandma craft” as the saying goes — that is, something anyone can create.
As such, Kastler can be found many Saturdays demonstrating her weaving at the marketplace, cementing the connections between artist and product and customer.
Unlike outdoor markets or other indoor venues, vendors don’t need to be present to sell their own wares at Brindle’s. It’s more like an eclectic gift shop, in many ways. So it only fills part of the business needs of a local artist.
Rust, the jewelry artist, agreed that face-to-face time is still important. She also tries to get to Brindle’s from time to time, demonstrating the intricate knit-work it takes to produce the chains on her jewelry, and learning regular customers’ color preferences.
“That connection — it makes it more than a couple pieces of glass. They can see I did more on it, and it’s not the mass-produced thing out of China,” she said.
It’s one reason some artists are still reticent about moving inside.
Mary Ann Hinshaw of Camano Island runs the Art by the Bay festival, to be held this year at the fairgrounds in Stanwood, and on one recent weekend was basking in the sunshine by her booth at the Camano Commons outdoor market – adjacent to but separate from Brindle’s.
“I would always rather have a festival and a market outside, that’s me,” she said. “The outside is just more festive.”
What’s next for Brindle’s
With its 25-foot ceiling, warm cedar interior and popular outdoor deck, the 5,300-square-foot Brindle’s is a cross between a browser’s storefront and a local’s gathering place. It’s a different animal, and one people are still getting used to.
“People are really going to the art festivals to look for art. They want art. At Brindle’s, I don’t think they really know what they’re walking in for yet,” Rust said.
The evolving Freedom Park at Camano Commons should help cement the retail area, which also includes a restaurant, a library and local coffee roaster, as a destination.
Rust moved to the island five years ago, and the original Brindle’s Marketplace helped her and her family meld with the community.
“It was so great to go on a summer day to Brindle’s,” she said.
More than selling her art, Rust wants to help the community keep a unique gathering spot.
“I really want them to succeed because I enjoy that area,” she said.
Brindle’s Marketplace coordinator Sylvy Smith has a passion for the artists and artwork she seeks out and doesn’t stick close to home.
She’s coaxed a Portland-area glass artist, a Shelton producer of soft toys and familiar names, like Aldrich Farms and Snoqualmie Falls Candy.
“I’d never done this before but it’s not rocket science,” said Smith, who previously ran an outdoor farmers market. “I like people, and I go to them and give them a chance.”
Brindle’s Marketplace
848-C N. Sunrise Blvd., Camano Island
360-654-6547
Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday
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