Indoor market: Entrepreneur opens venue for farmers, makers, collectors

By Brenna Wiegand

On any given Tuesday afternoon, a unique collection of people begins arriving at the old Silverton Grange Hall.

Back and forth, from their vehicles in the tree-lined parking lot to their tables inside, they bear their precious cargo – things handmade, hand-grown or hand-collected.

Welcome to the year-round Silverton Market.

Each vendor at market is passionate and knowledgeable about what they do – and the low-key atmosphere makes for good conversation as things get into full swing.

“It’s a place where we start interacting in a way that’s more intelligent,” said Mark Pearson, of Stayton, who started the Silverton Market in October.

Vendors have the unique opportunity to sell all year. Many sell at farmers’ markets, but most only run spring through fall. However, this year, just as the Salem and Silverton Farmers’ markets were breaking camp, Silverton Market set up shop.

“The chickens don’t stop laying just because it’s October, and most people have their gardens in by mid-May,” said Melody Harpole, of Silverton, a market mainstay. She appreciates the chance to sell her vegetable transplants and early spring produce. Among her current offerings are filberts, onions, potatoes and logs ready to sprout fresh mushrooms.

She is especially proud of her chicken and eggs, organic and free range by down-home definition.

“The free-range chickens you get at the store are just put in bigger pens outside but fed the same,” said Harpole, whose roosters and hens richly supplement their diet traversing the family farm.

“Most meat chickens are raised in 47 days,” she said, gesturing to a packaged bird. “These are 5-month-old chickens.”

Though she just started Pleasant Valley Bakery in July, Aleksandra Larionov already has customers coming back for her fresh, unique creations such as cottage cheese and savory potato pastries.

Scott Shorey buys 2-dollar lots at the Woodburn Auction and makes them ready for resale. His great passion is vacuum tubes – the kind once found in TVs and radios.

“I’ve sold at least a million tubes on eBay,” said Shorey. “They’re making a comeback.”

His brother repairs amplifiers and guitars in Portland and works solely on tube amps. The sound, they say, versus solid state or digital, “is like night and day.” Shorey sells a lot of CDs and DVDs and will resurface yours for 50 cents apiece.

“Who knew pit bulls liked to wear pajamas?” says Cheri Bunch of Granny’s K9 Designs.

Bunch sews all kinds of doggie attire from teensy to huge: coats, hoodies, pajamas and a special number for keeping dogs cool on hot days. Her largest creation to date was for a bullmastiff with a 45-inch ribcage.

Bunch takes great satisfaction in special cases, e.g., pajamas for a cat who lost all its hair due to abuse and a soft halter that enables a wounded squirrel to take walks.

She makes a variety of healthy dog treats including dried sweet potato slices, AKA “vegetarian pigs’ ears” and also sells her wares at Silverton Green Store.

Customer Melinda Akin of Stayton came back for more flavored grape seed oil – “I can’t cook without it” – and fell in love with the dog treats and Sue DePaolo’s bath soaps and fragrant, relaxing herb blends.

“I wish I had come here for Christmas shopping,” she said.

Most folks admire the beauty and fragrance of lilies (Lilium), considered the “Queen of the Garden.”

Pamela Billings of Silverton took it several steps further. Two decades of studying and using herbal remedies and products prepared Billings to do some “digging,” which unearthed the lily’s 6,000-year, globe-spanning history with origins in Israel.

Using the Hebrew word for lily, Billings named her business Shoshana Herbals.

The plant’s flowers, bulbs and oil are widely used in Asia and Europe as remedies and food.

Using the old methods and her own lilies and herbs, Billings makes soaps and oils to protect and soothe skin. They are used to treat bug bites, burns, bruises and “mystery rashes” that, customers have said, would not respond to anything else.

Agents for Stayton Friends of the Library, Pearson and his wife Diane bring a large, fresh supply of books, DVDs and audio books to market every week. They even take requests.

Their daughter Emily Pearson, who reads like lightning, made a business from a self-taught passion.

The homeschooled 15-year-old collects, repairs and sells treadle sewing machines and uses these manually operated machines in creating quilts and quilted items such as pillows and custom cases for phones, iPods and more. These nicely complement the hand-woven rugs and knitted baby sweaters, made by a woman bedridden with multiple sclerosis, that share Emily’s table.