Open market: Local bazaar lets vendors do business again

When the Hale’s Farm and Feed Christmas Bazaar at 1510 Basin St. SW, in Ephrata, was a success, organizers decided to make the event a regular item.

So a similar event Saturday, its springtime parking lot market, likely will recur every couple of months, said employee Elaine Robinson.

More than 35 vendors embraced the winds, bundled in tents or hunkered in mini barns. Many of them were unique, Robinson said, displaying their crafts made from local harvests, such as horseshoes, leathers, hides, broken branches, glass, antlers, rocks and more.

The bazaar basics everyone comes for were also represented, she said: soaps, body butters, home decor, clothing and baked goods.

Gary and Lynette Brathovde, of Pend Oreille County, are avid hunters and woods explorers, Gary said. About five years ago, they started turning found antlers, wood and other items into lamps, games and decorations.

Originally from Ephrata, they came to visit their grandkids on spring break, Gary said.

When they heard about Hale’s market, they threw in some merchandise.

“We’re running out of places to store them,” Gary said with a laugh.

Cribbage boards, clocks, lamps, ornaments and more covered their table, all with antlers and all one of a kind.

“No doubt about that,” Lynette added.

David Waller, of DnD Jewelry Shop in Ephrata, had a display of gems in one of Hale’s barns. He’s been mining gold for most of his life, he said.

That’s how it started, at least. When he began pulling pretty rocks from slough spots he had a gem expert check them out. That’s when he realized the value of the items he would throw away in search of gold.

“We got $100 worth of gold and we’re throwing away $500 worth of stone,” he said.

He’s self-taught, he said. He had to learn to research, to silversmith, to cut, and the list of possibilities just kept expanding.

Last year, of course, was rough on his business, he said.

“It takes money to make money, but if you aren’t making money, you’re just floundered,” he said.

Hale’s Farm and Feed is truly the day’s hero, he said. Waller was astonished by the turnout, and thinks every single one of the vendors will be back at the next one.

“This is how business used to be,” he said. “When you shut it down, it really hurts.”

Sam Fletcher can be reached via email at [email protected].