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For many, Best of Missouri Market was the best of times

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: October 6, 2008 - If Wall Street's woes are hitting "Main Street," you couldn't tell it at the Missouri Botanical Garden's Best of Missouri Market over the weekend.

The Market showcases artisans and food vendors from Missouri and nearby Illinois communities who sell crafts, home furnishings, jewelry, garden ornamentals, food and other items. Vendor participation is by invitation only.

This year Market co-chair Norma Stern worried the nation's faltering economy might keep people from shopping -- or attending -- the $10-a-head event. By most accounts, Stern's anxiety was for naught.

Final attendance figures aren't in but Stern says this year's market -- the 17th annual -- brought in even more people than last year's record-breaking event.

"Everything we feared did not come to pass," she said. "I think the majority of (the vendors) were pleasantly surprised how very well we did."

Some return vendors, in fact, reported record sales.

"It was our seventh year, and it was the best year we've ever had," Laura Portwood of Bankhead Chocolates Inc. of Bowling Green, said. "It was awesome. Everyone was worried about the economy but the vendors I talked to this weekend had record sales."

Portwood said she sold 275 pounds of fudge on Saturday. She hadn't run the figures for Sunday's sales when the Beacon contacted her.

Potter Sandy Schulz of Chesterfield said her sales were strong although not quite up to last year's. "It was still a great show -- a better show than any I've had all year," she said. Many vendors told her they had record sales, Schulz said.

The most successful vendors came prepared as she did -- with a lot of moderately priced items, she said.

Schulz, who makes primitive pit fired and horse hair pottery as well as Native American-inspired masks and fetishes, said she sold more than 60 of her $14.25 prayer bowls but none of her most expensive pieces that sell for $85.

Shoppers seemed more selective in their purchases, looking at all the offerings before coming back to buy, she said. "Most people seem to be buying Christmas presents. The pieces they bought for themselves were usually by return customers who had bought my stuff before and wanted to buy another piece for their collection."

Even many first-time vendors were pleased with their sales.

"If I were just basing it on my two days at the Best of Missouri Market, I wouldn't know there was an issue with the economy," weaver Christopher Granger of GrangerHome LLC , said. "People were very, very free with their wallets -- at least in my booth."

But, Granger added, the type of person who comes to the market may enhance sales. "People come to buy. It's a show that has a great reputation."

Granger said he came this year to sell his contemporary hand-woven scarves and table coverings "specifically because our boutique sales have been down." He added: "It did everything we hoped for."

But one first-time vendor Dan Kelly who grows organic apples and makes organic cider, vinegar and syrup at Blue Heron Orchard in Canton found the crowd a downer. With so many people crowding through there was little opportunity to talk with individuals about his products, and many seemed more interested in the samples vendors handed than learning about the products, he said.

Kathie Sutin is a freelance journalist.