Story Photos
 The Halloween theme and a pumpkin auction fund-raiser dominate the Rainier Marina Market Oct. 25. Behind one of the decorated pumpkins, market founder Sue Drummond chats with Alfie the Clown. Bill Wagner / The Daily News
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Inside Story: Rainier Marina Market moves indoors, stays open into December
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 11:39 PM PDT
By Cathy Zimmerman
Printable version
E-mail this articleAn outdoor market seemed like a great fit for Rainier’s Riverfront Park. But when parking got bottled up with sports teams, anglers and market browsers competing for spaces, the market’s founders took the lemon they’d been tossed and made lemonade.
After three years in the park, Sue Drummond and Jane Moon have moved the Rainier Marina Market downtown and into a sparkling indoors location. Now, vendors can peddle produce and crafts from May to October — and crafts, art work and specialty foodstuffs right into mid-December.
“This time of year is especially good, because the other markets have closed,” said Drummond, who formerly worked in mall promotion in Seattle. “And our vendors don’t have to haul their tables and chairs and canopies every week” but can leave booths up in a secure location for the entire season.
“It’s pretty exciting.”
A happy coincidence led to the move.
Three generations of Moon’s family owned and operated the 5,000 square-foot hardware store downtown, but it had been empty since her brother, Joseph Oliva, moved his True Value store down the street.
Moon, a retired teacher who also manages apartments, set her sights on the cavernous old store. Last winter, she put in new windows (a car once rolled down the hill outside and crashed into the plate glass front). Moon also redid the wiring, light fixtures and plumbing, and painted the interior white.
The result is roomy and bright. The time is right. And Moon and Drummond pull off a trifecta: They boost Rainier’s downtown, provide an off-season venue for artisans and bargain hunters, and fund the building’s upkeep with vendors’ fees.
Moon and Drummond said they attract between 16 and 20 vendors from St. Helens and Astoria as well as Rainier and across the bridge in Longview and Kelso.
A British woman sells fanciful hand-thrown pottery. A Nebraska transplant from an 1890s farmhouse on the plains sells rustic birdhouses and tool carriers made from the lath and barn wood left over when she and her husband renovated the house. “This is the ultimate recycling,” said Charlene Webb.
Scott McRae of Longview sells his color-saturated paintings and cards, and Diane Ruby shows the beautiful Southwest jewelry she makes as well as items from Peru and Tibet.
Crafts people offer hypertufa fountains and yard ornaments, baby clothes, earrings and beads and novelty items, and country scenes in oil — the paintings themselves and coasters and cutting boards made from prints of the paintings.
The market also offers prepared food for gifts — and to eat on the spot.
Curt Nelson of Artisans Coop in St. Helens operates a mini-store’s worth of shelves with specialty salsas, sauces, lingonberry syrup and honey.
Riley and Lee Dillon sell chocolate and Smoked Wild Yukon Salmon.
Homer’s Bread, baked by the same Homer Balos who sells at the Cowlitz Community Farmers Market, is for sale here.
There’s coffee brewing, too. And in the next booth, Dan and Tina DeLay of Astoria serve bowls of Smoked Salmon Chowder in two sizes.
“I had this in Southern Oregon, and they wouldn’t give me the recipe,” Tina DeLay said.
She tried it out numerous times until she hit on the right combination: chunks of peppered smoked salmon, potatoes, corn, celery and julienned carrots in a creamy base flavored with dill and other herbs.
The DeLays, trailed by their cattle and grown children, relocated from Southern Oregon to eight acres off of Highway 30. They said they’ve also sold their chowder at the Manzanita and Astoria markets.
“We’re finicky about our fish,” said Dan — it comes from Tony’s Smokehouse in Oregon City.
“We’ve got a cult following,” Tina quipped.
Not only can you have lunch at the indoors market, but you can sample a changing menu of seasonal events and attractions.
Last weekend, model railroaders set up their miniature town and ran the trains. Vendors gave out candy to children in Halloween costumes, and an auction of decorated pumpkins benefitted breast cancer research.
For the rest of the season, Turtle Crossing Ranch will offer free horse and buggy rides to anyone who brings an unwrapped toy for the Rainier Fire Department’s Toy ‘n’ Joy roundup.
John Edwards of Rainier will take people down to the park and back in a shiny wooden wagon that seats 12, pulled by draft horses Buster and Ruben. Edwards manages the horses, which are owned by Dick and Ellen Hendricks of Turtle Crossing.
“People from the senior center can ride down here and back,” Edwards said.
Directions, vendors and events
Rainier Marina Market, 115 East “A” St., Rainier, next to Bank of America. Follow signs from the bridge.
Open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday: Northwest Authors Autograph Party, with Kathy Bowers of Kelso (“Stitch, Spritz and Sew”), Christy Caballero of Rainier (“A Cup Of Comfort for Breast Cancer Survivors”), Dorothy Churchill of Rainier (“Mourning to Morning,” and “Don’t Call Me Ma”), John Durrah of Cathlamet (“Adventures in Borneo”), Shirley Hensley of Portland (“Sauerkraut’s Incredible Fascinations”), Susanne Martinson of Kelso (“The Fallingwater Cookbook”), Capt. Dean R. Nichols of Scappoose (“Kid On The River,” “Islands of Experience,” and “A Sailor’s Yarn”), Alan Rose of Woodland (“The Legacy of Emily Hargraves”), and Ruth Thompson of Longview, editor of inspirational children’s picture books.
10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday through Dec. 13: Free horse and buggy rides for all who bring an unwrapped toy for Rainier Fire Department’s Toy ‘n’ Joy drive. Shoppers can bring their toy to the market office, where they will be given a “free ride” ticket.
Saturday: Black Buggy Furniture joins the market, with Amish furniture, decor and accessories.
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 8: Guy Live Magic Show
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 15, 22, 29: Music by Guy Live
10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Dec. 5, 6, 12,13: Holiday Food Craft and Gift Bazaar
For vendor Information, call Sue Drummond (503) 556-1220 or Jan Moon (503) 556-9484.
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