Portland Saturday Market

Woooo! Doing Portland things!

AMBIANCE:
Parking | Street parking, parking plaza, but best recommended to use public transportation or ride share since it gets pretty busy.

Vibes | A lovely layout; you're basically at the riverwalk. You're proximal to many other touristy things such as the White Stag sign and the smallest park. I dig the variation of vendors from merchandise, stones, food, and produce. There's good places to sit out, enjoy the scenery or the local music.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Solid! All friendly people and pleasant energy all around.

OVERALL:
4.5 Stars. Lovely! This was a great place to be to get a nice grasp of Portland. The scenery, the food, and the music create a pleasant atmosphere. A memorable experience and something I look forward to coming back to L

Advice:
* It could be slower, and they can have fewer vendors on slower days

If there's one thing you won't find here, it's a banana (or any fruit). Not that I saw any. But what you'll find at this waterfront Market in Portland's Southwest side that runs into NW 1stAve(?), is an abundance of incredible vendors selling their wares- and you're never short of choices. Whether it's jewelry, clothing, fresh flowers, children's items, home decor, art and a couple of food stalls and maybe 1-2 food trucks- in no particular order, you won't go wrong.

Take for instance Moony's Sweets that have these chewy-thick-almost gooey cookies. My daughter picked the Red Velvet and I had their Chocolate Chip- which was great! But we missed their upright display of Baklava pastries that looked divine.

Or take the Sterling Silver jewelry kiosk where I bought a set of 'Endless' mini hoops for my kid and a beaded pinky ring for me. Or that Bella Luna Coffee truck offers some pastry items with a varied beverage menu and not just coffee. The vendors we purchased from were incredibly pleasant and easy to talk to; so were the ones we walked past. For me, this was a major win-win and price wasn't bad at all.

This is a large and fun outdoor market at the western/downtown end of Burnside Bridge, partly under it, partly spreading across Naito Parkway and Ankeny Plaza.

There are many vendors selling their crafts, specialty t-shirts and other clothes, magnets, games, woodworks, jewelry, soaps, and numerous other items. There are also many food vendors for getting bites to eat, coffee, etc.

The main negative is that this is really an arts-and-crafts market so it lacks a "farmers' market" element or full-range market for normal needs, since there are no vendors of fruits and vegetables, or other such foodstuffs to take like breads and cheeses; the food is limited to prepared food to eat.

That brings it down to about 4.5 stars for me, and I could see how one might give this only 4 stars for that, but otherwise, the market really is great unless you're there to shop for produce, so I'm rounding up. The website also specifies that it is an arts-and-crafts market, after all, and for that this really is great. It is definitely worth a visit and we had a nice walk to it along the river. I would add that it can be a bit crowded and loud, and we got burnt out on that score, especially in the area around Skidmore Fountain (the area by the river was less intense int hat regard), so for some people the crowds could be a bit daunting, while other clearly like to see or feel that.

I used to be a big fan many years ago ,but now having seen many other cooler Farmers market with better pricing and options ,I find this one slightly overhyped. I believe this is more an artsy market than a Farmers market and the closest one at PSU offers much much more in terms of food and shopping . But as a tourist it definitely is a nice getaway for a few hours .
Its not to say that they are not good -they are ! infact it has some of the coolest artworks you will find under one roof (for a lack of better word) . From jewelry to candles ,paintings , skin care to ceramics there is no lack of beautiful products here .The vendors are sweet and welcoming and part of the non profit coop from both Oregon and Washington.

Runs from March to December and very easy to get by Trimet .If you are driving and if you spend $25 or more at the market you can get the parking validated at the nearest SmartPark garage.

I'm be been many times over the years. Lots of creatives that want to share their amazing work sprinkled in with chochkies and run of the mill candles and weird stuff that must appeal to someone but less to me.

Food booths are pretty popular. The less healthy, the longer the line! The fresh fruit cups looked amazing.

Great people watching
Great location
Community of diverse beings
Good smells
Generally good energy
The occasional drum circle

All of these things are the real reason to come to the Portland Saturday market.

While visiting Portland with friends one of my friend's local buddies guided us through the market. We found parking in a local parking garage and made our way over to the market easily.

There are a lot of booths here and what I really enjoyed was all the arts and makers that had booths. I'm used to a lot of food vendors, soaps, candles and fresh produce when I go to markets like these, but this market had that and then some.

I wish I had taken pictures, but my phone battery was low and since I was on vacation I decided to just live in the moment.

I remember loving the ceramics, glass artwork and some of the more interesting and time consuming pieces people had on display. There were also unique clothing options available and I even bought an "Eat Local" T-shirt from Be Good Monster. I've worn it many times since.

If you spend $25 or more at the market you can visit their market booth for 2-hours of parking validation for the SmartPark garage. This is easy to accomplish with all the different options.

We ended up browsing through the main area of vendors and then heading up some smaller areas where we eventually ran out of vendors and were just enjoying the city.

If I'm back in the area on a Saturday I'll definitely make this part of my plan. It's a great way to support local and see a bunch of different types of businesses all at once.

It's a fun place to walk, especially in the warm, autumn sun, and see local artists' work.

Such a variety of crafts, arts, goodies can be found at the Saturday Market. It's conveniently located along the waterfront, where one can rest, relax and take in the beauty of the city. The central location is also great for walking to/from the city center, Chinatown, and more.

A fun outdoors market that celebrates local Portland/Oregon crafters and creators. From local jerky to crocheted plushies to hand crafted jewelry, the Portland Saturday market has it all. It's held weekly from 10am-5pm and spans multiple blocks (we counted 4). There is no parking so your only options are street parking ($2/hour) or garage/lot parking (we saw around $3/hour). Shop local!

Wanted to come and check out the famous Portland Saturday Market. Parking can be hard to find. Plenty of vendors for food, vendors for jewelry, glass, ceramics, specialty in arts crafts etc. Nice to walk around and explore but I personally didn't find much to eat or buy but nice to browse and do people and dog watching.

I have to be honest about two things. The first is that I was *really* looking forward to strolling through the Saturday Market with my husband. I had such nice memories of my first trip through the market with my friends, oh so many years ago. It was one of the things on my "to do" list that I'd actually planned around.

The second is that I felt a bit of shame after our visit, in that I'd built the market up to be this magical and lovely space full of things to see, buy, eat and experience.

Because this market? It was nothing like the one I remember from my first visit. Sure, part of it can be due to the fact that it's been years, and another part can be attributed to the pandemic we're still muddling through as a species.

It wasn't as expansive as I remember it being. We were able to do a full circuit of both sides of the street in less than 10 minutes, and that was with us strolling and stopping at a few booths along the way.

We did two extra passes through both sides of the market, just to make sure we hadn't missed a turn or a booth but weren't able to spend nearly as much time there as I'd wanted or planned on.

Heading out of the market, we took one of the flights of stairs that lead to the bridge above. That walk alone - a few steps from the market to the stairwell - was amazing and heartbreaking all at once. The sheer number of tents and homeless in that small area was astounding - their tents blocked off the sidewalk that we were trying to use to get to the Portland sign.

Disappointing, but I'm hopeful that it'll bounce back to the glory that I'm holding in my mind, once the world bounces back as well.