Staff photo by John Rawlston/Chattanooga Times Free Press – Dec 5, 2010
Daylen Sanders, foreground left, and his sister, Kayla Sanders, walk with their grandparents, Carolyn and Mickey Parson, on the Chattanooga Market’s final outdoor day of the season at the First Tennessee Pavilion on Sunday. The Chattanooga Market will present “Holiday Market Too” inside Warehouse Row for the next two weekends.Jewelry maker Susan Parry said she’s sad the Chattanooga Market’s winter season is over, not for business reasons, but for personal ones.
“I hate to see the season end,” Parry, owner of Susan Parry Designs with Torched in the Head Glass, said Sunday. “We become like family with each other — the customers, some of them become friends, so it’s a family reunion when you come down here.”
But Parry, a Signal Mountain resident and market vendor, said she’ll be back when the outdoor market reopens May 1, waiting on her friends to take a gander at her handcrafted jewelry.
Parry was one of about 200 vendors — a record for the market’s nine-year existence — at the First Tennessee Pavilion on Sunday for the Holiday Market, a two-day celebration of the market’s year and the holiday season.
“We’ve had a great time [this year], and we’re expecting next year to be even better,” said market owner Chris Thomas.
Though the market will continue indoors at Warehouse Row for the next two weekends, this year’s Holiday Market was a “perfect ending” to the outdoor season, Thomas said.
“This is easily the largest amount of vendors we’ve ever had,” he said.
One way to judge the market’s year, Thomas said, is by sales. When Thomas bought the market three years ago, its annual sales were about $700,000. Since then, they’ve climbed to $1.7 million, he said.
Another success indicator Thomas pointed out was fundraising efforts: He said the market raised more than $200,000 for local charities this year.
“We’ve had a really strong couple of years,” he said.
On Sunday, people strolled through aisles of handcrafted goods and homemade foods, searching for the perfect Christmas gift.
Summerville, Ga., residents Teena and Bill Dipillo said they found the perfect gift for their daughter, who works at a veterinary clinic: a decorative cat mask made with different colors of glass pieces.
“The wilder, the better. And this is really wild looking,” said Teena Dipillo. “I just love the craft items.”
“The arrangement of the different types of unique gifts, you can’t beat it anywhere,” added Bill Dipillo. “And they’re reasonably priced.”
Most of first-time vendor and painter Steve Swayne’s sales came from Christmas shoppers, he said.
“It’s neat seeing people’s faces light up and they say, ‘Oh, this will be great for Aunt So-and-So,'” he said, sitting in a tent lined with paintings of Civil War generals, farmers and more.
Swayne said he was glad finally to have a chance to do business at the market. And for that first time to coincide with the market’s outdoor conclusion, he said, makes it even greater.
“For me, it’s special that it’s the last day and my first time,” he said. “It’s a great time of year, and the market’s been really fun.”
Contact staff writer Michael Stone at mstone@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.
what’s next?
Dec. 10-11, 17-18: Market moves indoors to Ware-house Row for its final days of the 2010 season
May 1: Out-door market reopens
on the web
www.chattanoogamarket.com