Learning about Lexington Market

Reflections on Interviews After listening to the new interviews, I was struck by overall how positive interviews were.    For example, Carol Harris, the pop-up cake lady, came there as a kid, always wanted to have a business there and seemed really happy about the plans.   Larry Brenner, the peanut guy, was on the Merchant Advisory Committee and knew about the plans.   He came across as less enthused, but still committed to the business and the Market, wanting to expand hours and get more diverse food options.   The customers, except the woman from Pittsburgh, were long-time customers and also seemed committed to the market.    I particularly liked these: Tyrone Speace: “Once upon a time on an early Saturday morning like this you wouldn’t have walking room in the market, it would be so crowded like.   It’s kind of a shame cause uh it used to be a meeting place for people, like where it was almost like spiritual you come and meet your friends and hang out for the top o

Zine, Production Run 2 I spent some time Tuesday working on the second run of the zine – 20 copies this time.    Dr. King and Markele had figured out the hard part last week, so all I had to do was fold.   Markele did most of the work – trimming, collating, and stapling pages.   It looks even better than last time.   I suspect we will quickly run out. Looking for material for the second zine When I got home, I went through the historical Baltimore Sun to see if I could find anything interesting in the Letters to the Editor.   Some were fun – mainly because the older ones are a lot more colorful than anything that makes it into print these days.   My favorite was a man named George Haulenbeek who had 9 letters published between 1914 and 1919.    His biggest year was 1915 when he had three.   In the second, he railed against a Lexington Market vendor who had sold him a box of strawberries in which bad berries were hidden under good ones.   He ends by saying: The ma

Waiting for the zine Most of the work in the zine this week has been with Kaila (final editing) and Calvin/Markele (production and photos).    I am eager to see the final product.    In the meantime, I have continued to research the history of markets.     More history of public markets When we talked to Eli Pousson, he said, among other things, that the history of Lexington Market needs to be understood in the context of other changes, one of those being the change from an agrarian to an industrial food system. [1]     In the first, farmers sell fresh food – produce, meat and/or dairy products – directly to consumers.   In the latter, food is distributed and sold by third parties, increasingly corporations.    In colonial America, most towns had markets much like those in England.   They were held in the center of town and allowed local farmers to sell their produce or other products to people who lived in nearby towns.   As cities, like Baltimore, grew, the city