Eugene Saturday Market

Eugene’s Saturday Market is the oldest weekly open-air crafts market in the U.S. It is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. rain or shine, from the first Saturday in April through mid-November on the Park Blocks at 8th and Oak in downtown Eugene. On the weekend before Thanksgiving the Market opens its Holiday Market, which runs weekends through Christmas Eve at the Lane County Fairgrounds.

The first Saturday Market was held on May 9, 1970, with 29 vendors participating. It now boasts more than 700 members annually, with 200 – 300 of them participating each Saturday. Lotte Streisinger, founder of the Saturday Market, is still an active member of the Eugene arts community. She brought the vision of a Saturday marketplace to Eugene from market plazas she saw in Central America coupled with childhood memories of European markets. The first Saturday Market was held in the alley next to the Oak Street Overpark. After a short one-summer stand on the plaza in front of the County Courthouse, the Market was moved to the “Butterfly” parking structure across from the courthouse, and finally to it’s present location on the Park Blocks in April 1983.

Saturday Market not only offers handcrafted wards, but live entertainment, delicious food from fifteen booths in the International Food Court, and fresh produce at the Lane County Farmers’ Market directly across the street.